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Post date: Aug 20, 2014 1:55:13 PM
The E. Maine NSA Chapter met last night the energy generated reverberated off the walls of Dysart's !! We had 8 people in attendance... close to a record at Dysart's...6 PWS (Chris, Erin, Natalie, Peter, Mike and myself) and two spouses (Jane [Mike's] and Jean-Anne [Peter's])
After our round-robin small introductions, Natalie generated the energy and lit us up as she expounded on her past week at NSA in DC. Wow!! What a transforming experience she shared with us as, for the first time, she realized she could be herself and stutter openly, without fear and shame. Although she "thought' she was past all that, it was the conference experience that showed her how much of that shame and fear still lingered. And I must say...as a past board member and one who has been to many conferences, I think the NSA really did a fantastic job this with "first timers" this year!!! Natalie was initially a bit lost and "alone" on this, her first big trip on her own, but not for long!! Not only did she get a personal phone call before she left, but on very day of arrival, she was "found" and moved into the midst of meeting many wonderful, amazing, stimulating and powerful PWS !! ( Thank you Pam Mertz.!!) Those of us who had been to conferences before (Erin, Chris, myself) added to the great, life changing experience that attending conference can be.
We further discussed a wide range of topics...all related in some way to stuttering ! We had a great diverse group at the meeting and we wanted to hear from everyone ! We talked about stuttering in foreign languages (easy for some, hard for others !!), about situations which were high pressure/high speed (really ...I mean what is more hi pressure than trying to get your two cents in your U. S. Senator !!) where it was decided to just sit back and let others do the talking , about tackling stuttering at work as a teacher, and helped a spouse understand more about the nature of stuttering .
All in all it was a great meeting!
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