International Stuttering Awareness Day 2020 Doug Green of District 73 Toastmasters shares his story about how Toastmasters helped him work on his stutter.
“Stuttering is a dreadful affliction that most people don’t understand. There is nothing more embarrassing than trying to speak and not being able to get the words out. I’m not exactly sure when my fluency problems started. I think it might have been in my late teens.
I was, what you call, a covert stutterer and could hide it a lot of the time by substituting feared words and staying silent. Under the surface though it was always there and used to rear its ugly head when I was put on the spot such as during phone calls or in noisy bars with friends.
The best thing I ever did to beat this inner demon was to join ‘The McGuire Program’, a worldwide training system for stutterers designed by stutterers and run by stutterers. The 5-day intensive courses they ran were tough and tiring, but very effective.
There I was suggested to join Toastmasters so that I could continue to be pushed out of my comfort zone. It was then that I realised there were no Toastmasters clubs on the NW Coast of Tasmania. My only option was to help re-form a club in Devonport – and so was born the Spirit of Devonport Toastmasters Club. That was over 12 years ago.
Toastmasters has been great. Being a continuous improvement program, the effects are really powerful. To be able to stand up in front of a group and speak clearly and effectively is something I never thought was possible.”
As told by Doug Green, Member – Spirit of Devonport Toastmasters Club.
To find a club near you, go to – https://bit.ly/3afZmZh
