Today is the International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD) 2020. The day is marked every year on October 22 to increase awareness about the speech disorder that is said to affect 70 million people worldwide. It was decided in 1998 that October 22 will be designated as ISAD.
Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a condition where fluency of speech is affected.
According to National Institutes of Health, it is characterised by ‘repetition of sounds, syllables, or words; prolongation of sounds; and interruptions in speech known as blocks.’
The person who stutters knows what they want to say but will struggle to speak it all at once. As a result, trembling of lips and rapid movement of eyes also happen when people stutter.
There are online conferences which are organised to increase awareness and sensitise people about the condition. The theme for ISAD 2020 is “Journey of Words – Resilience and Bouncing Back.” The online conferences started on October 1 and will be going on till ISAD 2020, October 22.
People who stutter or those who would like to learn more about the condition can visit the website of International Stuttering Association and watch the virtual conference.
The association has also asked people to share their experiences with stuttering and how they have overcome the hurdles. As per The Stuttering Foundation, there are predominantly four causes of stuttering — genetics, child development, neurophysiology and family dynamics.
There are many prominent celebrities who stutter but this condition could not bring their confidence down. Legendary American actress Marilyn Monroe reportedly had this speech condition.
American singer and songwriter Carly Simon also stuttered. Speaking about this, Carly once said that as a child, her stutter went away only when she sang. “One day, my mother said to me, ‘Don’t speak it, sing it.’ And that’s what I did,” she said, reported Brain & Life.
