October 22 Is International Stuttering Awareness Day

If you've read for a while, or if you've ever met my son Nate, you know that he stutters.  Today is International Stuttering Awareness Day.  Earlier, I posted about a presentation that Nate gave to his classmates.  Now, I want to share some links where you can find more information about stuttering, and meet more fabulous people who just happen to stutter.

So much of the support and knowledge we have has been a result of our involvement with the National Stuttering Association (www.westutter.org)  Through the NSA, we have met many people and found much support that I sometimes have a hard time explaining it.  I have heard people in the past talk about support organizations, but I never really understood how powerful they could be until I found the NSA.  The reason the NSA is so powerful is because of the fabulous people that are part of it -- starting with the Director, Tammy Flores and going through the staff and into the membership.   Warm, welcoming, knowledgable, kind and supportive are just a few words that I would use to describe the organization.

Through the NSA, we have met too many people to list individually, but I want to list a few that have made contributions that I can share :)

One of those people is Jody Fuller.  He's a soldier and a speaker and someone who also happens to stutter.  He's an inspiration to Nate -- who aspires to joining the Air Force and also expresses a love for public speaking.  His recent blog post talks about his story, and also check out this video he made for this year's ISAD:

Another creative soul we've met is Daniele Rossi.  He's a social media fiend who is also a talented comic artist. He is one of the forces behind Stutter Social on Google+, and is behind Ti-Ger.org where you'll find a fabulous analogy about stuttering, some great tips, and wonderful cartoons.  This one is a favorite of Nate's: 

And so many more wonderful people!!  

Outside of the NSA, I was pointed to this article recently (actually, I think I saw the link thanks to an NSA member!)  The article, named "Digital Snake Oil: The Emergence of Online Stuttering Scams and Shams" is an excellent look at miracle cures touted on the Internet.  I've been targeted a few times by a Russian woman who claims she can "cure" Nate in 3 days for only $7000 and implies that I'm a rotten mom because I don't let her fix my son. This article helps explain what to look for when people are claiming "miracle cures" and hopefully will help unsuspecting people who are hoping for a quick fix!  Nate can sometimes control his stutter, but he cannot be "cured."  He will continue to work with his tools to improve fluency, but it's not a quick fix!

The Stuttering Foundation is another excellent resource, and the place where we found a fantastic poster of famous people who stutter.  They have a ton of resources available on their site, which are a wealth of information. 

And, Nate says I can't finish this post without including a link to his videos.  This will take you to a playlist of all the videos Nate has made about stuttering. He wants you to let us know if there's anything you want him to talk about, and he'll make more!