To ask if any other mumsnetters have a stammer?

[Organicoats]

Because I do and it would be lovely to hear from other mumsnetters how they navigate life, being a mum, working etc with a stammer.

It doesn't affect me massively, other than I am very quiet because of it, find making conversation with strangers virtually impossible, which makes me come across as unfriendly I think as other people can't usually tell that I have this problem.

Also in regards to work/a career - I would love to know what other people so for work as I feel there are so few fields that I could work in.

I’ve had one from being a small child. Really struggled with it at school. Had some speech therapy but it didn’t really work.
Started work at 16 and part of my job involved calling people’s names out! I decided that I would just go for it as I could say most of them. If it was a one I couldn’t such as names beginning with Mc I would shout the first name.
It’s all about avoidance techniques. I’ve always kind of brazened it out and just tried to overcome it and forget about it. I absolutely hate it if people mention it which they rarely do.
Trying to think of names for my kids was hard as it had to be something I could easily say and I also liked!

My current job involves giving advice face to face which I’m mostly fine with. I do stumble over some words but I’ve actually noticed that most people do even if they don’t have a stammer. My boss told me the other day that I need to give more advice over the phone and for the first time in 23 years of work I had to mention my speech impediment and said that wouldn’t be possible. I cannot cope with phone calls very well at all. Maybe it’s because I can’t see the person.

I would have made a good nurse or teacher but I couldn’t choose either of those jobs as I couldn’t have said some of the words to carry out the jobs.

Mostly though it’s just part of my life and it doesn’t have a big impact on me. I’m so so glad my kids aren’t showing signs of it so far as I was stammering from when I first learn to speak so I think they’ve missed it.

One of my brothers also has a mild stammer too so don’t know if it runs in families.

I have a mild one when I'm really tired or stressed.

Yes, I was fine in childhood but seem to have developed one going In to my 20s, it's not too bad but like pp said it's worse when I'm tired or stressed. It frustrates me as I know what I want to say but either the wrong word comes out or I struggle to say anything at all! I work in the healthcare industry so chat to people all day which has grown my confidence!

Watching with interest as DS has a stammer. Still at infants. He apologises for it in a light hearted way. We’ve said that he doesn’t need to apologise for it to us, but we understand that he might want to mention it to people who don’t know him eg new teachers to help them understand. Hope that’s right!