Fluent speakers have been urged by the President of the Ghana Stammering Association, Emmanuel Addo, to refrain from finishing People Who Stammer (PWS) sentences during conversations.
According to him, those who stammer are unable to fully express themselves and be heard when fluent communicators finish their words, even if they may believe they are being helpful.
He clarified last weekend in an interview with The Mirror in Accra that stammering is not caused by forgetfulness or a lack of confidence in one’s ability to speak, and that finishing the phrases made them unheard
“From experience, those who do this will realise that the person who stammers goes back to repeat what they were supposedly helped to say.
This is because stammering is not a result of forgetfulness or uncertainty as to what to say. I would suggest that the public ask the person who stammers what they find useful.”
He added that it was typical to witness others making fun of PWS, which he called cruel.
Mr. Addo claimed that mocking someone for stammering simply served to increase stigma and lower their quality of life because it was beyond their control. Instead, in order to encourage PWS to talk openly, fluent speakers need to be polite, understanding, and supportive.