Former Lib Dem candidate for Kettering speaks about the abuse he suffered for his stammer
Chris Nelson stepped down last year due to constant abuse and fears for his personal safety.
Last updated 4th Mar 2024
Last month a former Liberal Democrats candidate, Chris Nelson was forced to step down from fighting for the Kettering seat. It's after facing years of torment from the public and fellow political rivals over his stammer.
Chris was first selected as a Lib Dem candidate back in 2010 and described it as an "honour to stand as one of only a handful of people with an openly audible stammer".
The NHS estimates that stammering affects around 1 in 50 adults, with men being around 3 to 4 times more likely to stammer than women.
Studies suggest around 1 in 12 young children go through a phase of stammering although 2 in 3 children who stammer will go on to speak fluently.
In his statement Chris talked about some of the abuse he suffered whilst working as an MP.
"A number of years ago one of my colleagues was approached at an election count and was asked how's C-C-C-C-Chris doing?
"An opponent of mine from an opposition faction approached me in the street and actually ended up being reported to the Police as a hate incident, attacking me for my stammer in a deeply personal way which I'm still having counselling for some months later.
"I've had people fantasising about hanging me from a lamp-post as a traitor, I've been squared up to on the doorstep and I've had people threatening to write to my school and my head teacher trying to get me sacked.
"There often isn't the Police resources either available or allocated and the consequences are that we're seeing good people trying to stand up for there communities being driven out.
"A lot of people think this comes from ignorance, immaturity and lack of education, but I find a lot of young people are far more aware of what's right and wrong than the older generation.
"Children don't want to be disrespectful or rude and there's an increased awareness of treating everyone with respect.
"Adults are worse than children, because as an adult bad things carry less consequences people don't get punished as an adult for being abusive so they keep doing it, in fact people are rewarded for it on social media.
"People with disabilities deserve just as much respect as normal people."