Comments

1. 

   Ben Parsons

   March 1, 2011 at 22:05

   Great article. Thank you for expressing what I have dealt with my entire life. Though my stammering may not be as severe as others', I still struggle with it as much as anyone else. I will try to learn to accept it for what it is and "become a non-stammering stammerer."

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2. 

   Sally-Ann

   March 1, 2011 at 23:41

   Thanks David for your very insightful comments. I would like to share this article in my team of SLT's - I'm sure there will be somet new for everyone in what you have written.

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3. 

   Christine

   March 2, 2011 at 21:37

   So many people think that speech impediments, along with many other pathological conditions and disorders that don't have a visible or tangible cause, can just be "set right" by getting it over with and dusting their hands off. I'm sure depression and anxiety were in the same boat as stammering not many decades ago. People tend to view these conditions as the owner's fault, unfortunately. Somerset Maugham was another stammerer. He was so anxious and worried about his stammer that he would enlist the help of younger, self-assured men to go around with him and make introductions on his behalf.

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4. 

   Hetty Collins

   March 2, 2011 at 22:49

   Thank you. Spot on. Describes my life (apart from the novel reading, panel show and satirical appearances) entirely. And thank you for giving me names for all the techniques I've evolved over the years to try and cover my stutter. Also would like to say - that girls stutter too.

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5. 

   arthur

   March 3, 2011 at 12:33

   We heard David Mitchell being interviewed earlier this year (mideelburg, netherlands) but no hint of any speech defect. he almost coudn't be stopped talking and it all went fluently.

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6. 

   Martha Southgate

   March 3, 2011 at 15:57

   What a beautiful piece. My son does not stammer but he has learning disabilities with reading, writing, attention and time management that complicate his life. You've beautifully articulated the lifelong sense of dealing with these things. As a parent, thanks so much

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7. 

   Elizabeth Jackson

   March 3, 2011 at 17:04

   Thank you for 'speaking up' for us stammerers in so many ways. As you say, there is no cure, but I had some useful speech therapy as a teenager in the 1970s. One of the key points I remember from it is that 'technical fixes' are counterproductive because avoiding certain words or certain sounds reinforces your fear of them, and hence your difficulties. This is easier said than done of course - if you'll excuse the pun. Like yourself, I have learned over time not to be ashamed of my stammering, and this, more than anything else, has enabled me to develop a (so far successful) career as a university lecturer. Such a career choice would have been unthinkable in my hellish younger days when even answering the phone or trying to answer a simple question in class was torture. I was not surprised by the comment of someone who had heard you speak fluently. As you say, one of the many unknown truths about stammerers is that we all speak fluently sometimes.

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8. 

   Carla

   March 4, 2011 at 12:10

   Great article! You are right that people who stammer or stutter (terms for the same condition)“are furnaces of willpower.” We have to develop “a sort of militant indifference to how [people]perceive [us]” in order to make it through each day. Good that you shared some advice for those who do not have any problem with their speech. The Stuttering Foundation has some brochures downloadable from their web site (www.stutteringhelp.org) that I have shared with friends, teachers, and coworkers. "Tips for Speaking with Someone who Stutters" has made conversing much easier for me.

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9. 

   Dick Baznik

   March 4, 2011 at 13:45

   Wonderful article! I was first conscious that I stuttered at the age of six, and while I have developed many of the same managerial techniques Mr. Mitchell describes, I still have the problem as I approach the age of 70. As a young student, I was deeply engaged in the study of languages, both classical and modern. I was good at it, and my teachers and classmates assumed I just had "that kind of mind." Little did they know that I had an unusual motivation -- the need for more and more synonyms to substitute for looming troubles in my conversations. Over the course of two decades I went through about seven speech therapists. The worst were the ones whose approaches ranged from telling me to stand in a certain way when speaking or warning me never to consider a career in the public light. The best, who was also the last, understood that I had the capacity to manage stuttering so long as the motivation was there, and that career demands for public speaking can present legitimate motivation. Even if the publicity around TKS doesn't yield a year filled with more understanding about stuttering, I'm happy we've had a good month.

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10. 

    Teresa

    March 4, 2011 at 18:50

    Thank you for a fantastic article! I, too, went through speech therapy in the '70's as a preteen, and seemed to "grow out of it," but maybe it was just the talent of my last therapist. I've gone on to a career as a school teacher, and now I'm the "Story Lady" at the public library, earning my pay doing what I feared most as a child - reading aloud. The frightening thing to me at this time is how this movie (which I'm not sure I can bring myself to see) has brought the memories and fears back to the forefront of my mind, and lately I've felt the catch in my words more than at any time since my high school days. Frankly, I'll feel better when the interest dies down.

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11. 

    Renee Sweet

    March 5, 2011 at 21:32

    I really enjoyed this article. Thank you for your candid remarks and the information. I do not stammer and I especially appreciated your comments on what I can do to avoid being like one of the onlookers from the Wembley speech.

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12. 

    David Mitchell

    March 11, 2011 at 00:22

    I just wanted to thank you all for responding to my article. Individually: Ben P: You're welcome, good luck. You sound pretty sorted, but if my 'policy' helps, great. If not, you'll find your own, no doubt. Sally Ann: Long live dedicated SLTs. If what I wrote helps you and your program, great. You're not just therapists remember, you're emancipators. Christine: I didn't know that about Somerset Maughm. Not the happiest of men. I understand his fear too well to feel any scorn, but his is not a 'technical fix' I would recommend, even if I had the wherewithal to copy it! Hetty C: Yes indeed, many of British Stammering Association members are female. Odd how the default stereotype of a person who stammers is male - maybe popular culture has disseminated this image. You might be mistaking me for the other David Mitchell, by the way - the comedian/columnist/satiricist (if the latter's a word -my spellcheck doesn't think so). So far as I know, he doesn't stammer at all. Don't worry, you aren't the first and won't be the last - especially when he starts publishing novels. Arthur: your comment brought a big fat grin to my face. If any youngish stammerer is reading this, take heart - you can one day be (charmingly) accused of verbosity too! (I had a great time in Middelburg by the way, Arthur - if you're a local, thanks for making me feel so welcome. What an amazing library. Martha S: you're welcome too. Hope all goes well with your lad. It will. It's a long slog, I know, you need ten times the energy, ten times the patience and ten times the positivity of a "normal" parenting context. But it makes you ten times as tough, ten times as compassionate and you learn ten times as much about human beings in general and your own human being in particular. Hang on in there, wear your battle-scars with pride, stuff the disapproving stares in public, and he'll amaze you. Elizabeth J: Way to go. Here's to unthinkable career choices :-) Carla: Thank you for your kind words, and thanks for the link also. Dick B: And thank you too. Your stammer obviously hasn't held you back in life either. Recently I heard Alan Bennett make the observation that literary style is everything that is 'wrong' with how a writer writes. Of course he phrased it better than that, but the point is that all a writer's foibles and indulgences and weak-points and overcomings of those weak-points are what, collectively, make that writer different to any other writer. I love that idea, that it's not what we do right that really matters, but what we do wrong. I think the same principle might be applicable to people, too: whatever is 'wrong' with how our brains are wired up, that, collectively, is what makes us unique, what influences our interests and paths through life, what informs our individual views of the world, and is what bestows upon us particular insights and perspectives which we can share with others, and how we can help them. Put more succinctly, stammerers are world-class experts on how to live with speech disfluencies, and how to create a more helpful and enlightened understanding of stammering. There's massive room for improvement. Let's make that our mission, whenever we get the opportunity. We can do better than Somerset Maughm. Teresa: I know where you're coming from, and if 'non-examination' of your stammer is an effective strategy for you, I wouldn't knock it, even though it never worked for me. I hope interest in stammering stays engaged and informed, because speech therapy intervention needs to be properly funded and GPs need to stop saying, 'Oh, he (or she) will grow out it.' But equally I hope that a higher profile for stammerers doesn't cause a relapse for you. Good luck, whatever happens. Renee S: Clearly, you mean well and you want to understand. I don't think a stammerer could ask anything more.

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13. 

    Molly Colin

    March 11, 2011 at 02:32

    Thank you for writing this meaningful piece. A related bit is what it's like when you're trying to speak a foreign language, or can't. My stammer and stutter came back (in English and Russian) while living in Russia for a year. I touch on this in a piece I wrote recently. http://therumpus.net/2011/02/molly-colin-the-last-book-i-loved-my-life-as-a-russian-novel/

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14. 

    Will Sleath

    March 23, 2011 at 17:19

    Really enjoyed this article too. I am in the category that I sometimes kid myself I have reached the "non-stammering stammerer" stage, then of course the stammer turns around and tells you not to be so silly. In fact for me, the relationship with the stammer is a bit different - not an enemy, but something you want to outwit and get satifaction when you do. In fact "Outwitting the stammer" is maybe another technique for the list, shifting suddenly to a regional accent or a different pitch. Though it sounds odd to the listener, of course. (I absolutely share Molly's experience about foreign languages, French in my case, accentuaing the issue). And maybe this is middle age taking over, but I also find now that years of my brain working on parallel tracks - what to say and can I say it - mean that I sometimes say completly the wrong word in a sentence now, even when not stammering. The mental overload of doing both just seems to being a disconnect. Thanks again for the article

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15. 

    Paul Mason

    March 24, 2011 at 05:01

    I met David Mitchell in a small town in Herefordshire back in (I think) 2005, and, knowing nothing of his novels, found him both refreshingly modest and a fluent and engaging speaker. It occurs to me that those of us who are ordinarily labelled 'non-stammerers' might benefit from turning things on their head and realising that we, too, are simply stammerers who have learned, like David Mitchell (though perhaps without the herculean effort and intelligence) to cope with it. Actually, for me this makes sense, when I consider the times I've been tongue-tied, or having to make speeches.

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16. 

    Tim King

    March 24, 2011 at 06:24

    Thank you for such a very good article David. And how generous to reply to those who have expressed their gratitude. This post is not about stammering (so don't reply to it)but your Alan Bennett quote and your extension of that(which is also spot-on): it made me think of Jean Cocteau's "What others criticise in you, cultivate. That's the real you."

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17. 

    Feurmann

    April 20, 2011 at 00:48

    It's always heartening to hear about a fellow sufferer who has overcome his affliction. (Women are far less often stutterers, for reasons that aren't well understood.) Gratifying also that the film is evidently well researched and doesn't just portray a stuttering character as a dithering figure of fun. I wish it every success (particularly being an Australian), but could never go and see it. David is fortunate in being a writer, and thus mostly (I suppose) sef-employed. My stutter has been responsible for me underachieving professionally. Most jobs over a certain level require good communication skills, and what most people mean by that is talking. If you apply for those (and I must have applied for over 100 jobs), somehow a fluent candidate always wins. Not an excuse to give up? How about if, in my case, you've thought of suicide? I have decided to stop setting myself up for failure and concentrate on the rest of my life; playing an instrument, spending time with my wife. Waiting to retire. But bitter? Sometimes, for sure.

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18. 

    Matthew

    May 7, 2011 at 11:16

    Hi David, I very much enjoyed listening to your interview with Kim Hill broadcast on radio nz this morning. Your discussion of stammering is fascinating. I thought your comments on the both the genetic / environmental causality of the condition and the phenomenological expression of it through enveloped points of view between stammerer and interlocutor were extremely well put. So well put it lead me here and I was delighted to see that you had replied to a number of the comments above. As such I wanted to ask whether you'd ever come across the great writings of Gilles Deleuze which use stammering and stuttering as a philosophical / critical motif. I suppose the most concerted piece is one entitled (translated as) 'He Stuttered'. If so I really wondered what you made of his particular use of the condition. Thanks for your indulgence.

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19. 

    Betty Vanderstoop

    May 11, 2011 at 04:51

    Hi David, Just wanted to thank you for this enlightening piece. I am a member of the Best Book Club in Canada and this coming Friday night we will discuss your book "Black Swan Green". It was my turn to choose, so I am very curious how well it will be received. I am 77, but could still remember how awkward I felt at times in grade school, even though I was not a stammerer. Your book brought back memories of feeling inadequate in different ways, but still relatable to your Jason Taylor. That feeling never completely faded away. I know though that one is never too old to learn. Good luck, David, in your future writing endeavours. (One of our daughters is working hard at following you in your footsteps.) From me to you best wishes. I would like to say: Have a VERY good life! Greetings from Betty Vanderstoop

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20. 

    Jochen

    April 29, 2012 at 15:56

    Thank you very much, David Mitchell, for your frankness and this invaluable insight. Jochen

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21. 

    From stammerer to master of words: David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green | Tea, Books & Thoughts

    October 22, 2012 at 14:46

    [...] recommend his article Let me speak on the website of the British Stammering Association and the interview on the same website. He has also written an essay about the movie The King’s Speech which [...]

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