I am delighted to be part of a Living Library with Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospital NHS Trust, as part of Disability Pride Month!
I’ve enjoyed chatting about the barriers I face in my experience with a speech impairment and ways to lower them.
Image description: Image of two blue teacups - one with 'coffee chat?' written in the foam and the other one with 'yeah' on it.
The catch 22
Exposure is key to generating awareness and ultimately facilitating inclusion but people with speech impairments often have low self-confidence due to awkwardness and fear of the unknown from others.
With little exposure and very few positive role models in the media, we begin to see the hurdles! Being told to correct an impairment as opposed to society making accommodations creates an added emotional strain.
It’s a real challenge when we have to comfort and reassure people to unclench to enter into a conversation - when the pressure is on - we get such a small window to successfully address the elephant in the room to counter the apprehension felt by both parties.
How do we break the cycle? We need to work together!
Up for a chat? Email me inclusion@sarahburrell.co.uk or book a time to talk about speech impairment – let’s start a conversation!