Alex; the ISA Mascot

This blog post wouldn't have been created if it wasn't for a quick and, otherwise, simple decision to take a chance on a claw machine. 

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to spend some quality time with some really awesome young people who stutter. 

Myself and my colleague from the Irish Stammering Association, invited a group of young people, ranging in ages from 14 to 19, to an arcade to play some bowling and hang out. 

It was so wonderful to see the group chat to each other, laugh with each other and cheer each other on. All the while their stuttering was not an issue. 

They all gave each other the time and the space to get their words out; there was no interrupting and no one finished their sentence. 

To say it warmed my heart would be an understatement. 

 The Claw

There was a moment in the afternoon when two of the group participants wanted to play some of the arcade games and I decided to go with them. 

And I saw that the facility that we were in had a claw machine...so naturally, and obviously, I had to give it a go! 

The cost was One Euro, which luckily, I had in my coat pocket. 

I slotted the money into the machine and the carnival music started playing.

I saw the prize I wanted to go for and I started to move the claw towards this yellow blob.

It all happened in about 10 seconds –  I pressed the arrow down button and the claw crept downwards towards the soft yellow blob. It pulled up and made its way back over to the machine's left-hand aperture, where it opened its pincers and allowed the soft yellow blob to fall.

To the sound of cheers from the two group members who had been watching me the entire time, I quickly bent down and pulled the blob from the little hold. As I pulled it out, I noticed it was an octopus!

We named him/her/them Alex.

Alex the Irish Stammering Association Mascot!

If you've been following this blog for a long, you'll know that I'm a big believer in symbolism and how everything has to be sign for something.

I'm not sure why — maybe it helps me make sense of things!

I did a quick google search and I’ve discovered, among other things, that the Octopus is a symbol for creativity, it encourages us to think outside the box. I, obviously, relate this to stuttering and how creative people who stutter can be by thinking outside of the box in terms of how we use language.

Another symbol that I thought of when thinking about how I can relate Octopi to stuttering was the various tentacles that an octopus has. And how even though sometimes stuttering may seem to be the only way to characterise ourselves, there are so many other beautiful and wonderful characteristics that we have. We are not just our stutter.

What have I learned...

The ISA have a wonderful new Mascot (Our first ever Mascot, might I add); Alex the Octopus. And in some weird way, I can now relate people who stutter to an Octopus! 

And no...I never that I would ever say that sentence!