On 22 October, videos, quotes and personal stories kept appearing in the inbox of a Belgian stuttering association all morning.
Members share their voices online to mark International Stuttering Awareness Day, challenging misconceptions about a speech difference that affects around 1% of the world’s population.
"It's really nice to see that, unlike in the past, more people are open about it and share their experiences on social media," Caroline Moerenhout, a speech and language therapist specialising in stuttering, told The Brussels Times.
That openness lies at the heart of this year's international theme: "Stuttering comes in many shades." No two people who stutter have the same experience, and some of the most significant struggles are the ones that remain unheard.
Around 1% of the world's population stutters, but wrong assumptions persist.
"When people hear someone struggling with their words, they often immediately assume that person lacks intelligence or confidence. That's a misconception," Moerenhout said.
She is involved with vzw BeSt (Belangenvereniging Stotterende mensen), a Belgian association founded 30 years ago by her husband, Gert Reunes, when he himself had a pronounced stutter. He later trained as a speech therapist.
What is stuttering?
Stuttering has a neurological basis. Anne-Elisabeth Gies, a speech therapist and board member of Association Parole Bégaiement (apb) describes it as a miscommunication between the brain and the speech organs.
"The brain does not give them the right message, so they block, repeat or make longer sounds," she said.
Increasingly, the international community views stuttering as a speech difference rather than a deficit. "In the past, the approach was more medical: this is a deficit, and you have to fix it," Moerenhout said. "We are all different, and some people simply have a different way of speaking."
Yet social reactions remain a significant barrier: children may dread being asked to read aloud in class, jobseekers may fear that interviewers will mistake disfluency for incompetence. Over time, the fear of stuttering can become almost as limiting as the stutter itself.
One of the most subtle barriers, according to Moerenhout, is self-stigma. "People absorb society's beliefs, including the idea that stuttering is incompatible with certain professions," she said. "They can start believing these things themselves, sometimes without even realising it."
She recalled an 18-year-old who wanted to become a teacher and had never doubted it, until one of her own teachers asked whether she had considered the difficulties she might face.
"I don't think that was the teacher's intention," Moerenhout said. "But people don't realise that questions like these can reinforce stereotypes."
The invisible side of stuttering
While some people stutter openly, others conceal it by replacing words, avoiding phone calls or mentally rehearsing sentences before speaking, which is known as covert stuttering.
"When media make a documentary about stuttering, they often choose people with a very pronounced stutter because it is immediately clear on screen," Moerenhout said. "But many people experience covert stuttering. You may not realise they are struggling, yet they are constantly trying to control their speech. The tension, insecurity and exhaustion remain invisible."
For Gies, that effort to hide is a part of the problem. "There are different ways to stutter, but it's always stuttering."
How it shows, she explained, depends largely on how hard someone fights against it. "The more you fight against stuttering, the more you will stutter."
That is why she wants stuttering out in the open. "If you meet someone who stutters, ask them: can I do something to help you?" she said. "Don't make it a taboo."
Adp will carry that message to Namur on Saturday 7 November, as 22 October falls during the school holidays. Alongside a film screening, its two co-presidents, who both sutter, will speak to attendees with one central message: you are not alone.
"The more people understand stuttering, the more freely people who stutter can participate in society," Moerenhout said. "Courage isn't speaking without a stutter. Courage is speaking, even when you stutter."
