The Positive Vulnerability of Stuttering at the 2017 NSA Conference (Ep. 622)

stuttering, StutterTalk
Jia Bin, Christophe Constantino, Elizabeth Wislar and Reuben Schuff

Jia BinElizabeth Wislar and Reuben Schuff join Christopher Constantino at the 34th annual National Stuttering Association (NSA) conference in Dallas, Texas.

They discuss conference highlights so far which include Lee Reeve’s keynote, Barry Yeoman and Chaya Goldstein’s movement workshop, Yeoman and Constantino’s masculinity workshop, the positive vulnerability of stuttering, the kids’s talent show and their open stuttering on stage, role models of all ages, Schuff’s Avoidance Reduction workshop followed by the difficult and meaningful break out sessions and so much more.

Jia Bin is a person who stutters from China living in Michigan. Ms. Bin is a high school Chinese Teacher.

Elizabeth Wislar is a person who stutters and a teacher of students with disabilities. She lives in Athens, Ga. USA with her husband, daughter and 7 pets. She loves to run, cook, read and write. She is a co-leader of the Athens, Georgia National Stuttering Association chapter and writes a blog about being a teacher who stutters.

Reuben Schuff is an author and roving host for StutterTalk. By profession and passion he is an aerospace engineer, and also, a traveler, a juggler, a Toastmaster, and a person who stutters. He is a workshop presenter for the National Stuttering Association’s annual conference and is the co-founder of the Raleigh Teens Who Stutter (TWST) chapter of the NSA. Reuben also facilitates and presents with FRIENDS (the National Organization for Young People who Stutter). Reuben is author of the chapter Fluency: My Untrustworthy Friend in the StutterTalk book: Stuttering: Inspiring Stories and Professional Wisdom.

Christopher Constantino, CCC-SLP, is a person who stutters, a StutterTalk host, and a PhD student in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Memphis. Chris is an ASHA certified, Tennessee licensed, speech-language pathologist at Shelby County Schools in Memphis, TN. His research has sought to understand and contextualize the experiences of passing as fluent for people who covertly stutter. Currently he is studying the subjective experience of stuttering, he is interested in defining and measuring the degree to which communication feels spontaneous, regardless of fluency. Chris’s StutterTalk episodes are known for finding common ground between disability rights and speech-language pathology.