TRANSCRIPT OF A PRESENTATION, BY ALAN BADMINGTON, TO ...

or your constant need for the approval of others – then the old stuttering
habits will return.
Stutterers have a fear of being different – of looking strange. We are
obsessed with our desire to be like other people. We are obsessed with
wanting others to be comfortable with us. We are obsessed with the need
to belong.
In order not to risk upsetting others, we constantly modify and adjust
ourselves until we present an image that THEY like, because we believe that
pleasing people was the only choice we had. The reality is that in changing
ourselves to please others, we lose contact with our real selves.
As stutterers, we seem to be overly introspective. We focus inwardly; we
relive every speaking situation a hundred times in our minds before we
speak. That is what I did for more than 50 years – but, thankfully, it is a
thing of the past.
Now, I acknowledge negative thoughts (I don’t block them out any more)
but I have learned not to dwell upon them. I focus on what I want to do –
I create an image of how I want the experience to be. If I feel like I am
going to block, then I use my new tools to release the block. The
debilitating oral shackles that inhibited me for so long have finally been
removed.
I am not suggesting that everyone can make his or her speech blocks totally
disappear. However, by correctly recognizing the nature of the problem, it
is possible to maximise whatever efforts are made to improve one’s ability
to speak.
But let me give you a word of warning. All dynamic systems, from the
atom to the largest galaxy have a built-in resistance to change. People fail to
realise that a behavioural pattern – not just stuttering – has a life of its own.
When threatened, the habit struggles to survive, much as we would do if
we were threatened with annihilation. We want to live – so does your
stutter. After all, it is nearly old as you (and, in my case – that’s quite an