NYC Stutters

30 May 2016

A Call to Action: Moving Beyond ‘Stuttering is Okay’ (Ep. 581)

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stuttering, StutterTalkRoisin McManus and Caryn Herring of the StutterTalk B Team join Peter Reitzes to discuss the huge success of the NYC stuttering conference The Past, The Present and Future of Stuttering. Today’s topics emanate from this workshop.

We discuss Barry Yeoman’s amazing keynote address including topics he raises such as the juncture of “we need a cure and we are the cure” and his hope that “stuttering awareness” becomes “part of workplace diversity training because we [people who stutter] put it there.” Other topics discussed include the language around stuttering such as “pathology”, moving beyond ‘stuttering is okay’ into activism for people who stutter, becoming aware of not participating in the stigmatizing of stuttering and so much more.


Caryn Herring is a person who stutters and a speech-language pathologist, currently pursuing her PhD at The University of Pittsburgh. Caryn is also an adjunct clinical instructor at Duquesne University, supervising graduate students and teaching the Stuttering Course. She is an active member of numerous stuttering organizations.

Roisin McManus lives in New York City and has co-led the Brooklyn Chapter of the National Stuttering Association for the past 5 years. She is an occasional StutterTalk host, lead planner of the 20-Something’s Program for the NSA/ISA World Congress in Atlanta this July, and doesn’t mind being referred to as a “stutterer.” She works as an emergency room nurse and recently graduated from New York University as an acute care & palliative care nurse practitioner.

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24 Apr 2016

Let the Stuttering Rip (Ep. 577)

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Darren Johnson

Darren Johnson joins Peter Reitzes to discuss letting his stuttering rip. Mr. John shares his experiences of stuttering openly, focussing on “shame busting,” the challenge of showing the world his open stuttering, the chore and physical effort of stuttering, his desire to engage and communicate more productively with the world, how being African American impacts his experience of stuttering and so much more.

Today on StutterTalk, Mr. Johnson shares, “The pressure that I feel to be fluent is mostly the result of me wanting to be like everybody else…Look, this is what it is. You stutter; you can either accept it or wallow in it…Fluency has just become something that I find is not necessary and I would rather just be happy with being myself and doing the things that I want to do despite my stuttering.”

This is StutterTalk’s fourth and final episode in a series featuring New York City members of the National Stuttering Association (NSA). On Sunday, May 15th, the NYC Chapters of the NSA will hold their first local stuttering conference. It will be a day to support, educate, and empower stutterers as they explore The Past, Present, and Future of Stuttering. Event details here. Mr. Johnson is asked to discuss this workshop which is expected to draw 50-60 people who stutter.

Darren Johnson is a 22 year old graduate student who is originally from Maryland and joins us today from Manhattan where he is pursuing a PhD in chemical biology at Weill Cornell Medical College.

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17 Apr 2016

The Struggle Gives Power (Ep. 576)

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Spring Kwok

Spring Kwok joins Peter Reitzes to discuss the power of struggle, the balance between acceptance and wanting to change and how being a first generation Chinese American woman impacts her experience of stuttering.

This is StutterTalk’s third episode in a series featuring New York City members of the National Stuttering Association (NSA). On Sunday, May 15th, the NYC Chapters of the NSA will hold their first local stuttering conference. It will be a day to support, educate, and empower stutterers as they explore The Past, Present, and Future of Stuttering. Event details here. Ms. Kwok is asked to discuss this workshop which is expected to draw 50-60 people who stutter.

Regarding identify, Ms. Kwok shares today on StutterTalk:

“We each own multiple intersecting identities that not only define who we are but also how we experience the world. These identifies not only conceptualize who we are, but they are also dynamic in that they are always changing. They can either confirm power or be marked by discrimination. For me, the largest identifies I see myself as are being Chinese, being a woman and of course being a stutterer. Those three have definitely molded my experience…As a child we lack an objective understanding of the shame that we feel for being different. We feel it, but we don’t necessarily understand it. The idea of being different for me growing up was not only in how I looked, but also in how I talked…Each of these three strong identities in me do have very powerful cultural and social implications…They have made me who I am. With being Chinese of course there are a whole slew of stereotypes. Being female there are a lot of things I need to live up to. And of course, being a person who stutters there are stigmas I have to avoid…I think stereotypes of any group is extremely harmful and they generalize billions of people into one model minority. And I think it is really dehumanizing and I think that is slows down self discovery…That has been my experience…These stereotypes have kind of simplified me into a broad spectrum and it has bread a lot of ignorance, not only in the people around me, but also in how I see how I am.”

Spring Kwok, 21 years old, hails from Houston, Texas and joins StutterTalk today from Manhattan where she is a senior at New York University studying Economics.

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10 Apr 2016

Authentic Stuttering: Stuttering Without Disabling Fear (Ep. 575)

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Christopher Schuyler

Christopher Schuyler joins Peter Reitzes to discuss the importance of being present, living authentically with stuttering, stuttering without disabling fear, the conflict between wanting to be okay with stuttering and also wanting to stutter easily, facing stuttering as an attorney and so much more.

This is StutterTalk’s second episode in a series featuring New York City members of the National Stuttering Association (NSA). On Sunday, May 15th, the NYC Chapters of the NSA will hold their first local stuttering conference. It will be a day to support, educate, and empower stutterers as they explore The Past, Present, and Future of Stuttering. Event details here. Mr. Schuyler is asked today to discuss this workshop which is expected to draw 50-60 people who stutter.

Christopher Schuyler hails from Easton, Pennsylvania. Mr. Schuyler is a 31 year old person who stutters, a corporate attorney working in NYC and a marathoner.

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3 Apr 2016

The Past, Present, and Future of Stuttering (Ep. 574)

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Emma Alpern

Stavros Ladeas and Emma Alpern join Peter Reitzes to discuss the upcoming Day of Workshops in NYC titled The Past, Present, and Future of Stuttering, Sunday May 15, 2016. 9:30AM-5pm in Manhattan. Event details here. This event is for adults and mature teens who stutter.

Alpern and Ladeas announce that professional journalist and StutterTalk contributor Barry Yeoman will be the keynote presenter at this one day workshop and that StutterTalk host Christopher Constantino will also be presenting on a disability rights topic.

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Stavros Ladeas

In promoting this workshop, The NYC Chapters of the National Stuttering Association explain that they “firmly believe that stuttering is okay.” When asked today on StutterTalk what it means to be okay with stuttering, Ms. Alpern explained, “It means I don’t have to change the way I speak; I don’t have to obsess over my speech…and that is one of the things I think we want to talk about at the conference…look at all the ways it can be okay.” Mr. Ladeas explained that many people may participate in stuttering self help to offset the “impact of society on stuttering” and to “unlearn a lot of what they have learned.” When discussing the topic of a cure, Mr. Ladeas shared, “For me, the cure is allowing myself to stutter openly, and be present, and be more of an effective communicator.”

Emma Alpern is an editor and writer living in Brooklyn, New York. She has written about stuttering for The Atlantic, Broadly, and Did I Stutter. Emma has been a part of the stuttering community for about five years, and co-leads the Brooklyn chapter of the National Stuttering Association. She’s also recently been involved with events for FRIENDS and SAY (the Stuttering Association for the Young).

Stavros Ladeas is first-generation American from Greek parents, who currently lives in Queens. He works in tech, making mobile apps for an agency in the city. He is co-founder and co-leader of the Manhattan Chapter of the National Stuttering Association. He’s been involved in the stuttering community for about five years now, and is enjoying the expanding stuttering community there.

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