Stammering and climbing the career ladder

Image

Caption

Lisa

Lisa Scott talks about proving wrong the doubters who said she wouldn't amount to anything because of her stammer.

I'm Lisa and I've stammered for as long as I can remember. 

Recently, I made a post on LinkedIn sharing how proud I am of what I have achieved in my career, despite being told by teachers and early employers that I would never make anything of myself because of how I spoke. The post had over 45,000 impressions, 900 reactions and 100 lovely positive comments. I was completely overwhelmed. 

I wanted to write this article to explain to readers how I got here. I hope others who stammer will find it encouraging.

Growing up

When I was a young girl I tried everything I could to control my stammer but just couldn't. I was bullied and even beaten up because of it and found it hard to make friends. The kids at school would often sing the 'Stutter Rap' song at me, as they found it funny.

Family life was hard. My father drank and would often fly into fits of rage, showing aggression to us all, especially me and my lovely mum. I think this contributed to my stammer.

What hurt was when I could hear and see them mocking me when I stammered. I felt ashamed but then thought, you know what, I'll show you all!

At school I was ridiculed by teachers. They would constantly pick on me to read out loud in class knowing I wouldn't be able to read a passage. It was always a topic of conversation at parent evenings that 'Lisa struggles to speak'. This made me feel worse than useless! I did have a course of speech therapy but it didn't help much.

First jobs

After passing most of my exams I decided to leave school. I had simply had enough of the education system and applied for an admin assistant role at a local financial institution. At that time I was working part time in a rather busy local fish and chip restaurant as a server. I had asked for a reference and it was given to the company. I got the job and a year or so later I was shown the reference. It read along these lines: 'Lisa is a very hard worker but due to her speech is not very good at customer service'. This shocked me as at no point had anything ever been raised with me.

• Get help for stammering at work and with job hunting

When I started in the new job I was given training to take customer phone calls and was monitored my line manager, who was listening in. What hurt was when I could hear and see them mocking me when I stammered. I felt ashamed but then thought, you know what, I'll show you all!

Career progression

Despite that, I grew more confident as I progressed in my career, moving through management roles for a number of large financial companies such as NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Virgin Money, Unisys, Esure, AXA and even Philip Morris International in Switzerland.

I still stammer. The difference is that now I am so open about it and I own it. No one seems to judge me and accepts me for who I am.

I'm now in an Agile Project Management role where I facilitate workshops and speak at large functions. This was initially a hard transition and took a lot of preparation and sheer confidence. Once I had to give a speech at a conference to over 250 people but I genuinely loved it. Yes, it was scary at first when I took to the stage, but I knew my content and added jokes to make it fun. I got a great round of applause and lovely feedback.

I love what I do but the higher you climb the more pressure you face. Yes, I still stammer. The difference is that now I am so open about it and I own it. No one seems to judge me and accepts me for who I am. I do always worry about how I come across and what people think of me but overall I get such lovely feedback and have made so many lovely friends along the way.

Strength & belief

I'm now 43 and married with two wonderful children. I still get nervous when I speak publicly but overall I accept who I am and know I'm strong enough to be just me. I try to focus on being friendly and approachable. I want to be a people person, so I really try to embrace this to push forward.

The way a person speaks shouldn't have any impact on their ability to do a job

My personal pet hate is when I stammer and someone tries, mostly in a nice way, to finish my sentence. There are times when I say to people, "Please don't finish my sentence as I have a stammer" and make my point. If, on the rare occasion someone laughs I have the strength to call it out. Obviously in a nice way but people do need to understand this isn't something to be laughed at, it's a way of life for us.

I will be very honest and say I let my stammer hold me back due to the fear of being judged. But I know I am good at what I do and refuse to let that fear hold me back now. I have a real passion for my role and want so hard to succeed, so I push myself every day.

The way a person speaks shouldn't have any impact on their ability to do a job, I truly believe this. Regardless of your position in an organisation, interaction is key. I have made it a point in my career to communicate at all levels.

And regardless of your past and how you speak, you are enough and are fabulous in your own right. I truly believe this and it keeps me going daily. We are all in this together. 

Read more Your Voice articles from people who stammer. 

Would you like to share your stammering experiences? See how you can Submit Something For The Site.