Ideas
Describing his teenage years as "horrendous", Campbell Lauder recalls the difficulties of growing up with a stammer. "I could hardly say a word," he explains.
Lauder is among the 1% of young people in Scotland who stammer, and who are often the victim of bullying, ridicule and chronic embarrassment. Now a charity and a theatre company have joined forces to help those affected by this condition, albeit in what sounds like a very unlikely way: putting them on stage.
The stammering drama project is a new scheme established by the British Stammering Association (BSA) and TAG Theatre in Glasgow, designed to give young stammerers the opportunity to take part in drama workshops.
The scheme will offer a pilot series of free confidence-boosting drama workshops to help young Scots (aged from 16 to 30) from all backgrounds who stammer. These workshops will inform the development of Outspoken, a planned longer-term collaborative project by the organisations.
David Reilly
2 April 2008
