Being seen & being heard on ISAD 2022

Monday 24th October 2022 - 16:35

24th October 2022

'Being seen, being heard' was the theme of this year's International Stammering Awareness Day (ISAD), and this Saturday we did just that.

Delivering our petition

Two images, of a crowd holding banners, and a woman handing a document to a man — Delivering our petition to BBC Broadcasting House, London

To round off our No Diversity Without Disfluency campaign, launched this time last year, we delivered our petition calling for better media representation to the BBC and ITV. In London, we met up with a group of members and allies, including Scroobius Pip, and walked up Regent Street with our STAMMA banners flowing towards BBC Broadcasting House. When we got there we handed the petition, signed by over 25,000 people, and hung around for a bit of awareness raising. In Manchester, another delegation descended on Media City in Salford, to deliver the petition to the BBC and ITV studios.

A group of people standing and looking at the camera — Our delegation at Media City in Salford

Former STAMMA Trustee Betony Kelly did a great interview on GB News that morning, changing the conversation away from the usual 'overcoming' story the media usually does about stammering, and instead highlighting why we need to see and hear more people who stammer on TV, film and radio.

The Right to Stutter

Along with over 70 stammering organisations and associations around the world, we signed and launched a Declaration of the Right to Stutter, insisting that it is time to end this assumption that people who stammer should stop stammering. It calls upon everyone in a position to do so — the media, employers, organisations, etc — to make space for people who stammer.

Adverts

Three digital advertising displays showing people mid-stammer — Three of our digital adverts at UK train stations

Meanwhile, we launched our ad campaign 'It's How We Talk', with posters featuring people in mid-stammer and challenging misconceptions, which were displayed in train stations across the UK. We also had our eye-catching video splashed across social media too.

Your selfies

Elsewhere on social media, our followers made sure they were seen after we encouraged them to support stammering by posting selfie and adding one of our stickers.

Two pictures, one of a man posing in front of an image of angel wings, the other of two women standing in front of a sign — Supporters using our selfie stickers

How did it all go? See our Performance Reviews page to watch our presentation slides.

Other events

37 Things I Carry

That ISAD evening, Catherine, our Programme Lead for Children and Families attended a unique event in London called '37 Things I Carry', which brought to life Kiana Palombo's poetry about her stammer into a unique immersive experience. Read all about it in Catherine's article.

Stammer Project

School of Beatbox released its brilliant documentary Stammer Project online, 'An uplifting and inspiring story of 6 people living with a stammer. This film captures their profound mission to raise global awareness about stammering through the power of music — using their voices'. Have a watch.

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