Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad, popularly known as EMS, was a communist politician and theorist, who served as the first Chief Minister of Kerala in 1957–59 and then again in 1967–69. He was well known for his stammer.
When asked if he always stammered, he would reply, ‘No, only when I speak!’
To stammer is to speak with difficulty, repeating sounds and pausing before saying things correctly. But only one who speaks can stammer. The silent ones will not display any fault. And those who have the courage to move beyond the drawback will go far.
While speech therapists work on exercises and techniques to improve speech, a community support system helps individuals listen, share common experiences and support each other. The intra-personal resolve is also important.
Stop chasing fluency is the first lesson. Even if a person stammers on a particular word/syllable, they should continue speaking so that the stress and struggle is reduced. There are techniques of stuttering modification, prolongation and pause.
The break in speech due to stammer is just a pause. EMS was a role model for people with speech impairments for he chose to continue speaking despite the stammer. And many people were inspired and influenced by what he had to say.
Stammer in speech is no cause for tension
It
is just a pause… not an end-punctuation!
~ Pravin K Sabnis
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