IFA2006

so, it's been and done and gone.

no, not the Irish Farmer's Assocation gig, the International Fluency (I'll say it this time!) Association 5th World Congress.

my pre-congress goal was to buy some livestock, sell my stutter, and operate at a small financial profit.

i failed on all three, but it was mint. and lush. and a bit stuttery.

mad for

1. meeting folks who make my brain think, and reassure me that what we're doing is along the right lines. always good.
2. keeping sheehan's irish roots alive by comparing iceberg to a pint of guinness in our presentation.
3. tom (of thestutteringbrain.blogspot.com) demonstrating that he can make flames and flowers dance from 50 metres by doing a diaphragmatic 'la'. v funny. this should be a keynote address at a conference of the future.
4. meeting the our time theatre company (NYC) at last, them meeting our irish kids and inviting one of them up to perform with them at the big fancy dinner. they were inspirationational and a bit "awesome"
5. the IrishSA meeting the InternationalSA and realising that we have lots to do here but we've made a good start.
6. enjoying my stuttering at moments of stress, especially in the company of others.
7. house guests, and post mortems on what we all thought of it.
8. people getting confused by statistics in a presentation and clapping when 'discussion' came up as a slide, as they thought it was 'conclusion'. brain overload!
9. talking about going to croatia next year.
10. thinking about how good an impact stuttering is ultimately having on my life.

not mad for

1. far too many people going on about client led therapy. clinicians need to take responsibilty too. when clients are better informed then it's more appropriate to be collaborative. i agree that we as the stuttering folk are experts on our stutters but not everyone's an expert on how to get through it, that's what therapy and direction is about. bejaysus!
2. people who clearly jump from one therapy fad to the next even when they should know better. learn what works, and what doesn't work.
3. folk espousing theories without knowing what they're talking about, and presenting this as FACT. eep.
4. not getting to talk to some people i wanted to 'cos it was mad busy.
5. how much my legs hurt at this stage. i don't know why this is. as well as a broken mouth i now have sore legs. is there no justice?

i'm off for a wee lie down, and to ease my brain. it's quite full. i may need a spare one to store some of the stuff that's in there now. clearly the woman who tried to drive into me today was not using hers, i may ask to borrow it.

keep moving forward.

pax stutteramus.

the last post

...from ellesmere.

yes folks, it's the last post to the blog from ellesmere.

it's been a busy day here. we're all moving out, and moving on. i've been here almost 2 years, but it's time to leave. the people who own the house are coming back, and it'd be too crowded. so i'm off to dublin 1. we've had a bit of a clean up today, so thanks to my lovely girlfiend too who has been v good and helpful in the move.

also, as if there wasn't enough to do, i finished writing our paper for the IFA, taking about how our DASers are doing good after 6 months. their broken mouths are healing, slowly but surely.

but to put all that in it's place, i had some sad news today. a friend from home died. louise had cancer, and she was younger than me. we grew up together. we wouldn't see eachother that much anymore. maybe just for a pint in the 'piper on christmas eve. that was the last time i saw her.

i found it hard to hear today and don't really know what i think. i didn't know what to say to her then either.

i know that i'll miss you, and miss seeing you in the 'piper.

more soon.

the f word

sometimes i wonder if anyone is really listening.

i always talk about stuttering with clients and therapists as it gets to the point of the matter. people who stutter when they're (in or) past their teens have a pretty good chance that they will stutter for the rest of their lives. i.e. on some level there is no fix. it may reduce, but it is unlikely ever to go away completely.

myself and another DASer did a talk today to speechies on the subject of STUTTERING.

a couple of them asked questions afterwards about FLUENCY. even though throughout this we had repeatedly said the word STUTTERING and said how we thought that the F word was unrealistic and an unobtainable goal, resulting in negative self-perception in many cases post therapy.

if you can't achieve something 'cos your idea of it doesn't exist - but you believe it does - then you're always going to be disappointed.

and this happens all the time, people keep saying the f word in front of me. they are just not getting the point.

aaaargh.

sometimes i wonder if anyone is really listening.