James Laughlin, who stutters and gives 50 keynotes a year, argues that talking openly about your stutter gives others permission to do the same. He describes attendees approaching him emotionally after talks, urging people to stop hiding what they experience.
I give about 50 keynotes a year. Every time, when it's opportune, if I choose to talk about my stutter, if I do, every time one of people come up to me and they're crying and they say, my son has a stutter, I'm getting emotional. Or they say, I've had a stutter for most of my life, and it's been so humiliating, it's held my career back. And I hug grown men, and they're sixes. I say, it's okay. I say, talk about it. Don't hide it. Talk about it. Say I have a stutter. Some stutters are neurological. Some are physiological. Some are sociological. Talk about it. Don't be embarrassed by it. Everyone knows someone who has something going on. And the more you can talk about it, the more you build power and you give power to people not to be embarrassed.
