Campaign launch: End the phone call nightmares

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Our Don't Hang Up. Hang On ad

This International Stammering Awareness Day, here at STAMMA, we're launching a campaign to end phone call nightmares for people who stammer.

Our report, based on a survey of 356 people who stammer which you can download below, suggests that around 43 million calls to businesses made by people who stammer last year were mishandled.

• 65% of respondents reported having issues because they stammer.
• 1 in 7 people were hung up on.
• 24% struggled to get past voice recognition systems.

Unsuccessful calls to organisations can have real consequences for the lives of people who stammer. It can mean being unable to report a lost bank card or book a GP appointment. One respondent to our survey wrote:   

"I was put through to a voice-activated automated menu immediately, so no opportunity to say I stammered. This resulted in me repeating a 14-digit tracking number literally about 10 times as the automated service could not understand it due to my stammer. The more times I had to repeat, the more frustrated and anxious I became. I ended up in tears with the frustration I felt."

This needs to end. Simple changes can make all the difference. 

Go to our End The Phone Call Nightmares campaign page.

Don't hang up. Hang on

Over half a million people in the UK stammer, and millions more experience speech disabilities such as dysarthria, aphasia, dyspraxia and ataxia.

We're urging UK businesses to implement basic training and system changes to ensure that every call from a person with a speech difference is productive and respectful. 

The campaign is being brought to life visually with pro bono production support by creative agencies Iris Worldwide and BlinkInk. It includes a 30-second cinema ad and Out of Home advertising featuring a gremlin-like claw emerging from the back of a phone, visualising the kinds of emotion many who stammer feel about calls. The ads have a clear, simple message for the public: 'Don’t hang up. Hang on’. Pearl & Dean and JCDecaux UK are supporting with advertising space.

The campaign will run for at least 12 months and is part of STAMMA's 'Space to Stammer' strategy, supported by the National Lottery.

Get involved

You can help us make a difference. If you stammer, share your experiences to help us highlight the problem.

If you're an organisation, simple changes to your systems can make all the difference. Our resources and training can help you to implement these. See our Getting Phone Calls Right page.

Need support with phone calls? Check out our Support Services.

Visit our End The Phone Call Nightmares campaign page for all the details.