Head of the Division of Media and Journalism, African College of Communication and Enterprise (AUCB)
Nanabain Dadson, Head of the Division of Media and Journalism on the African College of Communication and Enterprise (AUCB), opens up about dwelling with stuttering and the way he turned what many think about a limitation right into a supply of power and confidence.
Talking on Pleasure FM’s Character Profile program, Dadson defined why he turned concerned with the Ghana Stuttering Affiliation and why he believes extra consciousness is required, particularly in colleges.
In response to him, stuttering is a neurological situation and isn’t one thing that may be simply overcome with out understanding and help.
“We all know that stuttering is a neurological downside, which implies it comes from the mind,” he says.
“So it isn’t like you possibly can simply take a capsule and be cured.”
Mr Dudson informed host Kofi Hayford {that a} key purpose he determined to affix the affiliation was his concern for kids who stutter and sometimes wrestle in class settings the place lecturers don’t absolutely perceive their situation.
“The rationale I joined this affiliation is as a result of it represents younger individuals and youngsters,” he defined.
“We’re sufficiently old now. We will joke about it. However there are children in class who stutter and do not earn the trainer’s persistence.”
He detailed how some kids had been ignored throughout class as a result of lecturers turned impatient when kids took too lengthy to talk.
“When just a little boy or woman raises his hand at college, the trainer will take a look at him and say, ‘Oh, it isn’t you,’ as a result of it takes time for him to get the phrase throughout,” he says.
He says many lecturers mistakenly assume that kids who stutter are dishonest just because they’ve issue expressing themselves fluently.
“As quickly as they see you stuttering, they assume every little thing you say is a lie,” he mentioned.
Mr. Dudson additionally shared among the embarrassing moments he personally skilled resulting from his speech obstacle.
Recalling an incident at a financial institution a few years in the past, he mentioned he had hassle announcing the quantity “22” when a teller requested him his row quantity.
“Twenty-two was a really tough phrase. Any phrase that begins with ‘t’,” he defined.
“When the teller requested, ‘What’s your quantity?’ 22 would not come. Everybody round me was me. They most likely thought I stole the test.”
He described the expertise as extraordinarily embarrassing.
“You possibly can’t give your quantity and everyone seems to be you,” he recalled.
Regardless of the challenges, Dudson mentioned his stutter by no means stopped him from instructing, each as a junior trainer and later as a college lecturer.
He mentioned the scholars had been typically well mannered, however discovered it tougher as a result of a few of their church duties embrace public talking and studying bulletins.
“In case you’re a trainer in a Methodist faculty, you’re most likely mechanically a catechist,” he mentioned.
“At church, we’re purported to learn Bible verses. We’re supposed to arrange bulletins and issues like that. Typically it was very tough to learn the bulletins with out stuttering.”
Requested how he was capable of construct confidence whereas teaching regardless of his situation, Dudson described his strategy as an “act of defiance”.
“If I’ve one thing to say, why cannot I say it?” he questioned.
Over time, he defined, his colleagues obtained to know him so properly that they hardly observed his stutter.
To be able to make the scholars really feel comfy, he typically addressed this challenge brazenly from the primary class.
“What I am doing is making enjoyable of it.”
“The primary time I’m going to class, I truly make jokes about individuals who stutter.”
Dudson added that in lectures, college students generally struggled to finish tough phrases, however remained decided to talk for themselves.
“Typically you simply cannot get your phrases out instantly, after which another person will volunteer to do it for you,” he mentioned.
“I inform them I will say it whether or not you say the phrase or not.”
