Don't hide away at uni if you stammer
Dylan Davies was dreading going to university. Two years on, he tells us how accepting everyone has been.
This time two years ago, I remember feeling a sense of dread about starting university with a stammer. Now, two years into my degree, I have studied abroad and even become chair of a university society. I'm proud of how far I've come in my relationship with my stammer and how it's allowed me to grow as a person.
In September 2023, I won't lie, I was nervous about how I'd fit in at university and make friends. Everyone was used to my stammer at secondary school and I didn't need to justify it or hide it. But now I had to face a whole new group of people. People who didn't know the first thing about me. People who would soon come to know my stammer.
I knew that eventually they would hear my stammer, and I was scared of the reaction.
A unique thing about my stammer is that it hides itself first of all. I can happily speak to people I don't know in a small group, but when I get to know people or when I'm put on the spot, it reveals itself. While that put me at ease in the first week at uni, I knew that eventually they would hear my stammer, and I was scared of the reaction.
But when I started stammering with my friends a few weeks in, no one paid any attention to it. It didn't change how they saw me and they accepted it. I decided to open up about it and was met with acceptance and comments of "Huh, I never noticed". My fears were overblown; no one really cared and that made me more comfortable in the way I express myself.
9am seminars
Everyone dreads a 9am seminar, but for me it came with a challenge many stammerers know all too well. My stammer is much more prominent when I'm tired. Having to focus on my speech as well as trying to come up with smart comments on this week's article at that time of morning made me stammer more than usual.
My fears were overblown; no one really cared, and that made me more comfortable in the way I express myself.
Early on, I made sure to meet with my lecturers to tell them about my stammer. Like with my friends, they were supportive and tried to accommodate it where possible. I still stammer in seminars, but I no longer worry about peoples' attitudes towards it. You'll soon learn that people are more focused on trying to improvise their own answers to those articles!
Making the most of uni
It's so easy to hide away when you stammer. But in doing that you're robbing yourself of all the experiences university has to offer. Last semester, I was lucky enough to do a placement studying abroad in Ontario, Canada, an experience I'll never forget. It was a massive change moving to a new country where people may struggle to understand me (mostly down to my Welsh accent!) or judge my stammer, but I'm glad I went. I got to know people from loads of different countries and even got up in front of a bar full of people to answer a trivia question to break the tiebreak. Just as back home, the people I met there were so accepting, and I never felt any fear or embarrassment in expressing myself to them.
This year, I start as the chair of a university society. Usually I'd be nervous about undertaking something like this, but I'm actually quite excited because taking on a position like this also lets me raise awareness of stammering in the wider university. It's only been a week, but I've met some great people who I know won't care about my stammer.
Like I said, it's so easy to hide away when you stammer; I used to do it myself. But, if I hadn't pushed my boundaries, I would never have gone abroad or met some of my closest friends. It's daunting, but uni is a place to be yourself. So my advice to new students is to throw yourself into everything and if you stammer, who cares?
Useful links
Are you just about to start university? Check out these pages for information and support:
Would you like to write an article to share your experiences? See Submit Something For The Site or email editor@stamma.org for details.
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