***PRESS RELEASE 16th OCTOBER 2015***
Ed Balls to help raise public awareness
of Stammering
#Stammeringnetwork #StammeringAwareness
Former Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, is keynote speaker at an inaugural summit on
stammering. For the first time, a group of UK organisations from the stammering and
speech and language community have collaborated to mark a week of events (see Notes to
Editors) building up to International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD) on Thursday
22nd October 2015.
Former Shadow Chancellor and MP for Morley and Outwood, Ed Balls, who will join the
summit at City Lit, the national centre for work with adults who stammer, said:
“I am delighted to join the newly-formed stammering network to raise awareness about
stammering. As someone who has an interiorised stammer and has spoken about
it publicly in recent years, I know what a huge difference the work of this network can and
will make to many people's lives.
Stammering can affect people at all stages of life, in their early development, at school, in
adulthood, at work. Everyone in the network is working hard to ensure that information and
support is available so that children and adults who stammer can fulfil their potential and
aren’t held back by stigma and misconceptions."
The Chair of Action for Stammering Children, Jo Hunter, is delighted that Ed Balls, an active
supporter of ASC, is championing this network and she said:
“This is a great moment for the members of the stammering and speech and language
community. We are united and are speaking with one voice to help raise awareness about
the issues of stammering.”
The success of the Oscar nominated film The Kings Speech, winning Colin Firth an Oscar
for Best Actor, and the personal and moving story of Musharaf Asghar from Channel 4’s
documentary, Educating Yorkshire, have helped drive the issue of stammering into the
public arena.
Derek Munn, Director of Policy & Public Affairs at the Royal College of Speech and
Language Therapists, added:
“Everyone knows about King George VI and Lionel Logue, but in the UK today thousands of
people live positively and successfully with dysfluencies such as a stammer, and speech and
language therapists are proud of the role we play alongside them.”
We know that around 5% of children exhibit developmental stuttering in their early years and
1% go on to have a persistent stammer into adulthood, amounting to approximately
720,000* children, young people and adults across the UK.
This partnership has come together to help raise awareness about stammering.
Stammering is a complex problem and there is no simple explanation or solution.
A stammer can have a devastating impact on a child’s confidence and their ability to do all
the normal things that other children take for granted. It often results in a child being
isolated, teased and bullied. They can struggle to make friends, avoid taking part in lessons
and under-perform at school. Early intervention can make all the difference.
For adults stammering is also known to be a significant barrier to success in the workplace.
Recent research funded by the Dominic Barker Trust has shown that misconceptions around
stammering and casual, daily discrimination are still commonplace. Yet research also shows
that people who stammer bring valuable qualities to the workplace like empathy, resilience
and listening skills.
Iain Wilkie, Co-Chairman of the Employers Stammering Network and a senior partner at EY,
said:
“The Employers Stammering Network campaign ‘It’s OK to Stammer at work’ says it all because good communication at work is all about what people say, not how they say it”.
This awareness raising week comes at an important time. In recent years we have found
that while there are centres of excellence like the Michael Palin Centre and the City Lit, NHS
provision for speech and language therapy for children and adults who stammer is
increasingly under threat. For example, 16 out of 34 London NHS Trusts no longer offer
speech therapy for adults who stammer. One Trust no longer offers stammering therapy for
children over the age of six, another for children at secondary school-age.
*Figure from the British Stammering Association: http://www.stammering.org/
Media inquiries - for further information please contact:
Action for Stammering Children: Balshen Izzet at [email protected] or 020
3316 8113
British Stammering Association: Norbert Lieckfeldt at [email protected] 020 8983 1003
Michael Palin Centre: Elaine Kelman at [email protected] or 0203 316 8100
RCSLT: Josephine Olley at [email protected] or 0207 378 3013
Notes to Editors:
1) What is stammering?
Stammering is typically recognised by a tense struggle to get words out. This makes
it different from the normal non-fluency we all experience which includes hesitations
and repetitions. Commonly it involves repeating or prolonging sounds or words, or
getting stuck without any sound (silent blocking). Sometimes people put in extra
sounds or words. Often people lose eye contact.
Some people who stammer talk their way round difficult words so that you may not
realise they stammer at all. This avoidance of words, and avoidance of speaking in
some or many situations, is an important aspect of stammering.
Stammering varies tremendously from person to person and is highly variable for the
person who stammers who may be fluent one minute and struggling to speak the
next.
2) The ‘stammering network’ is formed by:
a. Action for Stammering Children (ASC) – ASC commissions the delivery of
specialist services that transform the lives of children and young people who
stammer. The Charity’s goals are to increase the delivery of charitably
funded services, not available on the NHS, to train speech and language
therapists and to fund and promote research
b. British Stammering Association (BSA) – The UK's national association for
stammering and people who stammer of all ages. We provide accurate and
unbiased information about stammering and support through events, social
media and other forums. We aim to give an influential voice to stammering in
the public sphere and are hosting the Employers Stammering Network.
c. City Lit – A college for adult education. Speech therapy courses provide
specialist training for adults who stammer. Intensive courses, workshops and
evening classes are offered throughout term-time.
d. Employers Stammering Network (ESN) – Launched in 2013, the Network's
aim is to create a culture where people who stammer can achieve their full
career potential. ESN currently has 15 members, almost all of them very
significant employers like the Civil Service, EY, Shell, and DHL, employing
1.8m people between them. This Network is the only such group in the world.
e. Michael Palin Centre (MPC) - This internationally recognised Centre of
Excellence runs the UK's largest specialist service exclusively dedicated to
the diagnosis and treatment of children and young people who stammer.
f. Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) - RCSLT is
the professional body for speech and language therapists in the UK,
representing more than 16,000 members. It facilitates and promotes research
into the field of speech and language therapy – the care for individuals with
communication, swallowing, eating and drinking difficulties. It promotes better
education and training of speech and language therapists and is responsible
for setting and maintaining high standards in education, clinical practice and
ethical conduct.
3) Time table of events:
a. Monday 19th October: ASC announces new members of the Youth Panel.
Members of the Panel, aged between 13-21 years old, applied online and
attended an assessment day.
b. Tuesday 20th October: City Lit
c. Wednesday: Joint Giving Voice/BSA event at University College, London
d. Thursday 22nd October:
i. MPC workshop for parents of children who stammer under 5 from
09.45am-11.45am
ii. ESN Employment Posters launched at EY
iii. Stammering network summit at City Lit with keynote speaker, Ed
Balls, former Shadow Chancellor, from 2.00pm-4.00pm