Why are there no stammering/stuttering politicians?

[Leys Geddes]

I'm interested in people's views on WHY there are no UK Members of Parliament who stammer.

Is it the same in the US Senate and House of Representatives and elewhere?

Is it because of:

(i) OUR ATTITUDE - feeling that our speech is inadequate for such a job;

(ii) POLITICAL PARTIES' CANDIDATE SELECTION COMMITTEES - not wanting/believing that a stammerer would be 'right';

(iii) SOCIETY - still thinking that people who stammer are mentally strange and, anyway, politicians need to be good communicators and good communicators are thought to be fluent speakers;

(iv) A COMBINATION OF ALL THESE


Interestingly, there are several elected members of local councils in the UK who stammer.

There are two members of our House of Lords who stammer. They did not inherit their seats, and were not elected, but were appointed to the House because of their particular experiences/skills and what they had already achieved in life.

There is at least one Member of the European Parliament who stammers - but there is less need to campaign for seats here and less need to speak in a combative debating chamber.

I know of at least one Member of the Netherlands Parliament who stammers, and he stammers visibly and audibly, but he just gets on with it. Are there others, in other countries?


LEYS

[PhilGarber]

Joseph Biden, the Vice-President for the Obama administration stuttered as a child. I'm not sure if he still stutters or grew out of it though.

[jamesm]

Winston Churchill also stuttered, even well into his political years. Check out this website, http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=128...
Princes and kings have also stuttered. George VI of England had a "severe stutter" and ruled during WWII.

[BenLZ]

I'd go with option 4 - all of the above. Doing speeches, presenting to a nation, is a big part of being a leader.

[Leys Geddes]

Thanks, Phil. Biden no longer stutters, or at least not noticeably.


LEYS

[emily445455]

It's probably a combination of all four. And it probably varies person to person, situation to situation.

[Penelope]

I'd say a mixture of all of them, but I'd guess the selection committee is the biggest hurdle. They might know that a candidate is good, but they might not want to take the risk that they will be able to promote themselves to the wider or to trust the wider to be accepting. I also think that unless a big deal is made out of the candidate having a stammer, that some people will just think that they are being a bit slow and therefore thick.

Apparently Ed Balls, a member of the UK cabinet has a stammer, but it isn't very noticeable. He supposedly has his stutter "under control" rather than having simply grown out of it. It isn't obvious at all, and the only reason I know about it is because of an article I read about the Michael Palin centre.

[Leys Geddes]

I think you are 100% right in all you say, Penelope! I am asking this because, tomorrow morning, as a part of the Speaker's Conference, I am going to be grilled by 12 MPs who will want to know why there are not any stammering MPs, and what we should be doing about it.

It would be useful if people from other countries could tell me if they have any elected politicians who stammer. If they do, this would be good, because it would show that the UK is out of line.

LEYS

[urbanmermaid]

I remember some time ago I was watching something about the EU parliament on EuroNews and this MP, I didn't get his name or where he was from, I'm guessing the UK had a real bad stammer. I don't remember what he was saying but he was criticising some other politician and looked quite angry which I think made his speech even worse.

[Leys Geddes]

This post is probably going to be of more interest to the Brits out there!

Anyway, as you may remember, in my role as a Trustee of the British Stammering Association I was grilled by the Speaker's Conference, which was set up by the Speaker of the House of Commons to look into why there are so few people with disabilities and from ethnic minorities in the House of Commons. I was sitting alongside a blind man from the RNIB (blind charity), a man from the RNID (deaf charity) and a guy in a wheelchair (mobility disability charity). I would never have imagined a few years ago that I would be teamed up with them. But then, of course, they all spoke absolutely fluently and, when it came to talking politics, it was me who had the obvious disability! All these other charities have piles of money, of course, so the people they send along to these things are professional campaigners.

After the meeting, I thanked the Conference organisers for asking us to contribute and gave them the following three conclusions:

1. In terms of local democracy and the Disability Discrimination Act, there do not appear to be any councils which have a 'speech friendly' policy in place for those with any kind of Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN). They seem to think that the words 'disabled' and 'disability' refer only to those with mobility, vision or hearing difficulties. For example, people with SLCN, and even Councillors with SLCN, might wish to have additional time to speak at meetings, but this does not appear to be happening.

2. Prospective MPs with SLCN fear that the Selection Committees of the political parties will prefer candidates with fluent speech.

3. We would be grateful if Members of The House might consider the needs of those with SLCN more often. Some 750,000 children and adults stammer, yet we are virtually invisible and inaudible. If anyone in the House wants to learn more about stammering, or to involve us in any way, we would be delighted to help.


LEYS

[Perad]

I am sure that there are many people who stutter in politics. However, they have to adopt a ' it, public speaking time' attitude. When you are addressing a groups of people week in, week out, how long do you think you are going to stutter for?

I am sure that many people in politics have had a sink or swim moment. They choose swim and persevered. In time they become more confident in speaking to strangers and groups and start to loose their stutter.

It is like in school. For 3 years I never raised my hand. One day I knew the answer and did. I stuttered but got it right, it felt good. I raised my hand every day in class. Within 2 weeks I wasn't stuttering any more. I would leave the classroom and speak to someone in the playground and stutter again.

Its about comfort zones. If you enjoy something and know that one way or another you can do it then you will stutter far less, if at all.

[Leys Geddes]

You, Perad, have got it about right. We CAN do anything we want, if we want.

LEYS

[orwo]

Yes, everything's possible. I just can't imagine how we could argument with other politicians... especially, when you are in stressing situation and they are making pressure on you. And you have to be quick to get a place to speak. I'm not sure if it would be good.

[Perad]

Yes, everything's possible. I just can't imagine how we could argument with other politicians... especially, when you are in stressing situation and they are making pressure on you. And you have to be quick to get a place to speak. I'm not sure if it would be good.

I could argue just fine, stuttering or not. People wait for disabled people to limp along, they don't barge past or hurry them along. It is the same with a stutter. You just need to assert yourself. If there was a debate, you would just talk, fluently or not, if you are interrupted you raise your hand and say let me finish. Honestly, the barrier is you, not your stuttering.

Obviously, the more you do it, the easier it will get.