Chelsea student organises event on 'The Freedom of Speech'

Published 21 February 2012

Sport and Exercise Science MSc student Matthew Callard has organsied an event at the university called ‘The Freedom of Speech’. The purpose of the event was to highlight the support available for people with speech impediments.

Matthew spoke about how he is working to overcome his own stammer. He said: “University can be a particularly challenging time for someone with a speech impairment – meeting new people, doing presentations, interviews and performing everyday tasks. Having tried numerous speech therapy approaches over the years, I had a breakthrough five years ago when I attended a course called The Starfish Project which helped me enormously.”

“Since that time my speech has improved dramatically, enabling me to do many things I couldn't do before, changing my life in a big way. I would have struggled to have done a talk like this a few years ago.”

“There isn‘t much mentioned about support for people with speech impairments, so I thought I‘d try and help change that.”
The release of the film The King’s Speech has put the issue of speech impairments firmly in the public eye. Matthew decided to organise the event to raise awareness of the current support available.

The event was a success with over 20 people in attendance. Afterwards Matthew said: “I was very pleased with how the event went and very grateful to everyone who came along. Particular thanks go to the Student Union Wellbeing Team who helped me to organise everything through their Wishing Well funding.

“The idea of the event was to raise awareness of speech impairments and of the support that is available should anyone seek it. I only heard about The Starfish Project from a friend‘s recommendation and if this event leads to helping someone else, it will have been well worth it.”

If you would like further information about any aspect of the event please feel free to contact Matthew – M.Callard1@uni.brighton.ac.uk