My name is Stephen Hill. I am thirty-two years of age and live in Birmingham, England. From the age of four I unfortunately had a speech impediment known as stuttering. This impediment basically ruined my life for eighteen years before I finally managed to overcome the stutter. This article is all about stuttering or as some people call it stammering.

Stammering or stuttering can have a dramatic effect on somebodys confidence and it certainly seemed to my crush mine. It made me accept second best in life and stopped me living my life as I wanted to.

It is extremely difficult for a fluent person to comprehend how hard it is to live your life with a speech impediment or stutter.

I now run one to one speech courses which are held in Birmingham. A couple of years ago one of my clients told me about a situation he had been involved in. He and his friends went to a bar one Saturday afternoon to have a few drinks. After a couple of pints he went up to the bar to order himself a drink. Unfortunately he could not speak all of the words fluently and the barman accused him of being drunk and refused to serve him. He tried to explain that he was not drunk but had a stutter, however the barman relpied, that's what they all say.

He returned to his friends who asked him where his drink was. He told them what had happened, this itself was very embarressing.

This is a typical situation people who have a stutter or stammer find themselves in.