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Transcending Stuttering: The Inside Story
Journal of Fluency Disorders 31 (2006) 156–157
DVD review Transcending Stuttering: The Inside Story P. Schneider, (DVD, $24.95 US) National Stuttering Association, 119 W. 40th Street, 14th Floor, New York, NY, 2005 It’s too bad Transcending Stuttering: The Inside Story will be seen mainly by speech-language pathologists, stutterers and their families. Phillip Schneider introduces his new documentary by saying that it is designed to help stutterers know they are not alone, and for their parents and caregivers to learn the “inside story” of how stutterers feel. However, the film deserves a wider audience, because it teaches important, universal truths. And it does so without being heavyhanded. Dr. Schneider simply presents seven stutterers who tell their life-stories; each of these stories is broken into short segments with recurring themes, such as “Shame Leads to Hiding,” “Hitting Bottom and Bouncing Back,” and “Hope and Wisdom.” Not only are there recurring themes, but there are similar stories within these themes. One topic nearly everyone mentioned was the dread they felt on the first day of school, the awful anticipation of waiting their turn as each student said his or her name and talked about summer vacation. Two of the speakers, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, a noted conservationist, and Frankie Jones, a songwriter and singer, recalled eerily similar classroom incidents: they each injured themselves with a pencil point, providing an excuse to leave the room. They both said that the pain they had inflicted on themselves was preferable to the pain they would have felt had they tried to speak. According to Dr. Schneider, this pain felt by stutterers when speaking is not in the speech interruptions, but in the feeling of being different. Yet, in the end, we see that stuttering has made each of the seven subjects a better person: more compassionate, more patient, more self-aware. From their stories we learn that what initially seems like a burden may really be a blessing and that people are able to overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable. But perhaps the greatest lesson of Transcending Stuttering is to teach the importance of remaining true to oneself and the courage it takes to follow that path. As Dr. Rabinowitz noted, “Stuttering is a gift” that helped him live with integrity and honesty. Several of the featured speakers made the decision to claim their true identity after feeling shamed, not by their stuttering, but by an incident in which they allowed stuttering to keep them from being themselves. Steven Miller, a college football player, tells of ordering a hamburger because he was afraid he would stutter on the word “cheeseburger,” which is what he really wanted. He decided right then that he would never again let stuttering control his life in that way. Dr. Rabinowitz recounts a childhood incident at a grocery store. Some of the people on line behind him at the checkout counter became impatient because of his stuttering. When the cashier DOI of the related article:10.1016/j.jfludis.2006.01.004. 0094-730X/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jfludis.2006.01.002
DVD review
157
told them to be patient because the boy was “retarded,” he responded by waving his arms around in a way that he thought retarded people acted. He decided that it was better for people to think of him as retarded than as a stutterer. Not surprisingly, he felt awful and made the decision to be himself after that. Although all of the stutterers in Transcending Stuttering are adults now, Dr. Schneider includes videos of many of them when they were children, some as young as 7 years old. Some of the subjects are seen talking about stuttering at various ages, and thus we are able to see a life unfold before our eyes, a technique reminiscent of the British 28-Up documentary series. This allows the viewer to see how lives change and do not change, how hopes are fulfilled and unfulfilled. Dr. Schneider was named the National Stuttering Association Speech Pathologist of the Year in 2004. He wrote, directed and produced the film in cooperation with the N.S.A. Charles Barasch M.S., CCC-SLP 1628 East Hill Road, Plainfield, VT 05667, USA E-mail address: [email protected]
DVD review Transcending Stuttering: The Inside Story P. Schneider, (DVD, $24.95 US) National Stuttering Association, 119 W. 40th Street, 14th Floor, New York, NY, 2005 It’s too bad Transcending Stuttering: The Inside Story will be seen mainly by speech-language pathologists, stutterers and their families. Phillip Schneider introduces his new documentary by saying that it is designed to help stutterers know they are not alone, and for their parents and caregivers to learn the “inside story” of how stutterers feel. However, the film deserves a wider audience, because it teaches important, universal truths. And it does so without being heavyhanded. Dr. Schneider simply presents seven stutterers who tell their life-stories; each of these stories is broken into short segments with recurring themes, such as “Shame Leads to Hiding,” “Hitting Bottom and Bouncing Back,” and “Hope and Wisdom.” Not only are there recurring themes, but there are similar stories within these themes. One topic nearly everyone mentioned was the dread they felt on the first day of school, the awful anticipation of waiting their turn as each student said his or her name and talked about summer vacation. Two of the speakers, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, a noted conservationist, and Frankie Jones, a songwriter and singer, recalled eerily similar classroom incidents: they each injured themselves with a pencil point, providing an excuse to leave the room. They both said that the pain they had inflicted on themselves was preferable to the pain they would have felt had they tried to speak. According to Dr. Schneider, this pain felt by stutterers when speaking is not in the speech interruptions, but in the feeling of being different. Yet, in the end, we see that stuttering has made each of the seven subjects a better person: more compassionate, more patient, more self-aware. From their stories we learn that what initially seems like a burden may really be a blessing and that people are able to overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable. But perhaps the greatest lesson of Transcending Stuttering is to teach the importance of remaining true to oneself and the courage it takes to follow that path. As Dr. Rabinowitz noted, “Stuttering is a gift” that helped him live with integrity and honesty. Several of the featured speakers made the decision to claim their true identity after feeling shamed, not by their stuttering, but by an incident in which they allowed stuttering to keep them from being themselves. Steven Miller, a college football player, tells of ordering a hamburger because he was afraid he would stutter on the word “cheeseburger,” which is what he really wanted. He decided right then that he would never again let stuttering control his life in that way. Dr. Rabinowitz recounts a childhood incident at a grocery store. Some of the people on line behind him at the checkout counter became impatient because of his stuttering. When the cashier DOI of the related article:10.1016/j.jfludis.2006.01.004. 0094-730X/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jfludis.2006.01.002
DVD review
157
told them to be patient because the boy was “retarded,” he responded by waving his arms around in a way that he thought retarded people acted. He decided that it was better for people to think of him as retarded than as a stutterer. Not surprisingly, he felt awful and made the decision to be himself after that. Although all of the stutterers in Transcending Stuttering are adults now, Dr. Schneider includes videos of many of them when they were children, some as young as 7 years old. Some of the subjects are seen talking about stuttering at various ages, and thus we are able to see a life unfold before our eyes, a technique reminiscent of the British 28-Up documentary series. This allows the viewer to see how lives change and do not change, how hopes are fulfilled and unfulfilled. Dr. Schneider was named the National Stuttering Association Speech Pathologist of the Year in 2004. He wrote, directed and produced the film in cooperation with the N.S.A. Charles Barasch M.S., CCC-SLP 1628 East Hill Road, Plainfield, VT 05667, USA E-mail address: [email protected]