We ask you for input on the 'Declaration of the Right to Stammer' (written by Jane Powell, CEO of STAMMA). The plan is as follows:
Declaration of the Right to Stammer
We, the undersigned, declare that people who stammer should be accepted as having a stammer. We may, or may not, choose to find support to sound fluent or stutter less. That is our right. It is not reasonable to expect or insist that we sound fluent. We stammer. That is how we talk.
In this time of diversity, adjustment is too often not given to those who stammer at work, education or using everyday services. The expectation is rather that we should strive to ‘overcome’ our stammer and speak differently. As individuals we may wish to do so. But as a community we challenge this nonsensical idea that we stop stammering.
No organisation can claim to value equality or diversity unless stammering voices are permitted and valued. We call upon every organisation and institution to work with people who stammer to make sure that all of us are given the respect every person deserves; and that space is made for us. It is our right as humans to speak as we do.
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