Thoughts for sowing cluttering-affirming approaches

Back speaking with Christine Tournier on her Exploring Research for Clinical Practice podcast this month and reflecting on key influences in the development of stammer-affirming narratives that could possibly be helpful to the cluttering community. You can listen to the conversation here. Sam Simpson Redefining Stammering

Reflect: An app to visualise stammering

Thank you Christine Tournier for your interest in my recent work developing a stammering-affirming practice framework. You can listen here to our conversation for the Exploring Research for Clinical Practice podcast, in which I give an overview of the development of Reflect in collaboration with Stuttering Commons, an app that visualises stammering with the aim … read more…

Shakespeare, Stuttering, and Stigma: Strange Bedfellows No More!

“This above all- to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” – Polonius, “Hamlet” Act 1, Scene 3 When you think of Shakespeare what comes to mind? If you are a person who stutters/stutterer, does it invite you or … read more…

Dysfluent Literature

Privileged to choose Dr Maria Stewart to discuss her work on the Stammering Collective and her readings of Emily Dickinson’s poetry for the Disorderly Voices podcast hosted by Patrick Campbell for Stuttering Commons. Maria has been a key influence in opening my eyes to the literary and cultural heritage people who stammer are born into. … read more…

Wouldn’t you rather talk like us? A UK art exhibition making stammering history

What would a conversation between two people who stutter look like? As I write I am putting the finishing touches to a collaborative piece of work that Conor Foran and I have been working on for our upcoming exhibition at City Lit in London. The exhibition is called ’Wouldn’t you rather talk like us?’ – … read more…

Cluttering Interviews: A personal perspective

In June 2023 I took part in the  50 Million Voices practice interview event;  an initiative that does so much to unlock the talent of people who stutter by tackling the barriers created by workplace interviews.  I’ve been involved with 50MV since meeting Iain Wilkie and Sam Simpson when I was a mentor on the … read more…

The Stories Beyond Words project: creatively reworking and reclaiming time

Something serendipitous has welled up in my PhD research. An unexpected connection has sparked and fused. This connection is all about time, or rather its disruption, through usurping societal expectations of chronological time. It spans between my research area and the creative approach. This connection is opening up possibilities for thinking creatively around disfluency. The … read more…

The flow of time

You may recall that I have been working on a series of paintings of people actively in the process of stammering. The message that many people who stammer get during their upbringing is that you should make every effort you can to be fluent and that stammering is a failure. This narrative is sometimes promoted … read more…

On Fridays we advance ableism; or, what we can all learn from Lizzo

I had been meaning to contribute to Redefining Stammering for some time now. Sam reached out after reading a paper I had published, with co-authors Ellen Rombouts and Pascal Borry, in the Journal of Fluency Disorders. The paper, a carved-up version of my master’s thesis, presented the following argument: the scientific hope of discovering developmental … read more…

Fishing for sharks: teenage voices and stuttering

Adolescence is a time of challenge and exploration, on the one hand pushing boundaries and on the other trying to explore possible identities for best fit. As a speech and language therapist, I too struggle sometimes on offering a service that is fit for purpose for teenagers who stutter. I believe in the power of … read more…