King’s Speakers Toastmasters Club Helps People Who Stutter

The book turned award-winning movie The King’s Speech (2010) put stuttering and King George VI on a global stage. It showed the king’s frustration, fear, isolation and insecurity because of his speech impediment. But like King George demonstrated, stuttering doesn’t need to hold anyone back from achieving success and inspiring others.

The King’s Speakers Toastmasters club in London proves this every day.

On a recent trip to the city, I visited the group and talked to club members. Started in 2012 by

Harminder Dhillon, King’s Speakers is one of three known Toastmasters clubs in the world formed specifically for people with speech impediments.

The King’s Speakers’ mission also includes helping people with severe social anxiety. Dhillon began to stutter at age 13. For decades, he suffered a crippling fear of speaking to people. He tried a range of therapies, but nothing was particularly helpful.

When he discovered Toastmasters, he found a place to change all that.

Dhillon’s stammer still ranges from mild to severe, but he no longer fears speaking. In fact, he now runs training workshops on topics related to personal growth, such as assertiveness and conversation skills, and has been invited to present sessions in places like Estonia, Holland and Belgium.

“Toastmasters has helped me to change my sense of self-belief,” Dhillon says, “to the point now that I cannot imagine life without public speaking.”

A Struggle for Many

According to the Stuttering Foundation, stuttering—also known as stammering—affects approximately 1 percent of the population worldwide. The story of King George VI’s struggle highlights what 68 million people face every day.

As the British Stammering Association puts it, “When talking is hard, life can be difficult.”

Dhillon started King’s Speakers to offer fellow stutterers the opportunity to break free of the fear of public speaking, naming the club after The King’s Speech for a positive, regal association.

Fear of speaking takes on another dimension for people who stutter. Unlike “fluent” speakers—people without a speech impediment—people who stammer have added speaking concerns related to trigger words, the involuntary repetition or lengthening of words, and uncontrolled moments of silence as the speaker struggles to form a sound. There can also be facial and body movements triggered while speaking.

Sabrina Hasni began to stammer around age 5 or 6. The more she worried about her speech, the more it controlled her.

“Every speaking situation became a challenge: speaking to friends, reading or making presentations in the classroom, and socializing,” she says. “I became enclosed in my world.”

She joined Toastmasters in 2010 to face her fears in a supportive environment. She met Dhillon when he visited her club. They spoke after the meeting, and Dhillon asked her to help charter the King’s Speakers club.

Speaking in the club has been invaluable, say club members.

“Toastmasters gave me a very safe environment to practice in,” notes Dhillon, who works in the finance industry. “I stumbled and failed many times on the stage before I found my feet, and never once did I feel judged, or belittled.”

Hasni says the confidence she’s gained has been crucial. “I can now face challenging situations at work. My friends are overloaded by my phone calls, and think I am more sociable.”

Hiding the Pain

Some people hide their stuttering by avoiding certain words or simply minimizing the times they speak. These individuals are “covert stutterers.” Suzana Kalcic considers herself in this category; she has kept her talking to a minimum, even with some family and friends. Kalcic has stuttered ever since she can remember.

“I just felt like I had created a psychological prison for myself, with my perceived limitations, and it was time to break free,” she says. “I knew Toastmasters could help me to do that.” It has, and Kalcic is now excited to take on new challenges, such as speaking professionally and leading teams.

Graeme Bass also thinks of himself as a “covert stammerer.” As an English solicitor, Bass has not worried about speaking in court; however, he has minimized talking in team meetings. He has also tried to avoid his known trigger words, which, ironically, include solicitor.

“The fear of stammering when I am trying to get my point across is something that is always in the forefront of my mind,” he says. The King’s Speakers club is helping him change all this, says Bass, who now allows himself the freedom to speak in front of anyone, using whatever words work. With the self-confidence he has gained, he is also taking on volunteer leadership roles.

Shared Success

This kind of success is shared by other people who stutter. Halfway around the world, the Smooth Speech club in Burwood, New South Wales, Australia, will celebrate its 30th anniversary in October 2015. In 1985, Doug Spinks and Laurie O’Donoghue co-founded the

group—the first known Toastmasters club for people who stammer.

“We found that as treated stutterers we were taught a new technique—a new way of talking—but nothing we were taught gave us the confidence to talk,” O’Donoghue says.

Based in Nashville, Tennessee, the Bill Wilkerson Toastmasters is the third and newest club for people who stutter, and for their supporters. The club mentor is Eugene Johnson, and it was his experience that drove the formation of the group.

For many years, Johnson’s stutter caused him to avoid conversations with people, even though he describes himself as a natural extrovert. He joined a Toastmasters club in Nashville—The Parthenon Club—three years ago, and now he not only is confident in conversations but speaking in front of groups.

“I no longer have the fear of stuttering, which is a major hurdle to overcome for a person who stutters,” he says. Because of his success in Toastmasters, the staff at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Stuttering Foundation Program is sponsoring the Wilkerson club.

These Toastmasters, and other members around the world who stammer, prove that it’s possible to face your fears and succeed.

They are inspiring. As Kalcic, of the King’s Speakers club, says, “What seemed impossible before, now feels achievable with hard work and dedication.” 

A version of this article appeared in the February 2015 issue of the Toastmaster magazine. For tips on how to support someone who stutters, download the Toastmaster Magazine app.