Irish Stammering Association appreciation post

The Irish Stammering Association (ISA) is an organization that I need to thank on a daily basis and will continue to thank throughout my life. 

This organization has helped me through the most formative years in my life and it continues to help me as I get older, just by being involved with it. And this year I was fortunate enough to be asked to work with and for them. So alongside my duties for ISAYiT!, which include facilitating the meet-ups, events and workshops that the ISAYIT! hold on a monthly basis, I am now the new administrative officer for the ISA. And it’s really exciting!

But this blog post is not about my new job. This blog post is about why I love the ISA, why I stuck around ISAYiT! and why every time I do something for or with the ISA, my heart feels at peace and my soul dances. The simple answer to these questions is that as a person who stutters I truly believe in finding your community. When you have other people who you can talk about your story with, who get you and who can relate to you, it really does make you feel safe and supported. And with your community behind you can do pretty much anything…what’s the phrase? It takes a village to raise a child!

Me as a participant of ISAYiT! (I think I was around 13 years old.)

One of my favorite things about the ISA is that I don't feel afraid to speak because I know I will be listened to and given the respect I deserve. This is because the majority of the people at the ISA events know what it's like to be disregarded and interrupted because they take a second longer to say what they need to say. And everyone who attends the events know that they will meet people who stutter so its not a surprise to them!

On the surface, the ISA is just another organization that supports people who stammer in Ireland. It provides people with a space where they can get the help that they need, and they can meet other people who stammer. Have a look for yourself! But to me, it’s more than that! It’s the place where I discovered that it was okay to stutter and that it wasn’t something I needed to be ashamed of. As a young person, I had so many opportunities to meet with people who were older than me, to see what I could be, regardless of my stutter. I was fortunate enough to be a part of the ISA from a very young age, I even gave my first speech at an ISA event when I was just nine years old! That was 14 years ago…and no that does not make me feel old at all!

ISAYiT! (Irish Stammering Association Youth international Theatre) is a branch organization of the ISA which caters for the young people who stutter in Ireland. And like the ISA I have been fortunate enough to be involved with ISAYiT! from the beginning. I was just 10 years old when it was set up and as the group has grown and evolved, I have also grown with it. I have been lucky enough to go from being a participant of the group to being one of the key facilitators and it is probably one of the biggest achievements in my life. I am so proud to be able to help provide a space for young people who stutter where they can speak without fear of judgement or ridicule, where they can make friends and where they can just be silly.

My first year as a facilitator (2017) still acting like a child

And with National Stuttering Awareness day being right around the corner (the 22^nd of October to those who don’t know), it really made sense to me to write a little about my passion for the ISA. And it seemed like a good opportunity to highlight the benefits of being part of Irish Stammering Association or any sort of stuttering community.