Worcestershire mum backing stammering awareness campaign
Jen Rendall is backing a petition to get better media representation for people with stammers.
Last updated 25th Oct 2022
A mum from Worcestershire is showing her support for a campaign calling for more people with stammers to be seen and heard on TV, film and radio.
Launched by STAMMA, the British Stammering Association, the 'No Diversity Without Disfluency' campaign wants better representation across broadcast media.
A petition signed by over 25,000 people has been handed in to the BBC and ITV studios.
'Being seen, being heard' was the theme of this year's International Stammering Awareness Day on Saturday (Oct 22).
Jen Rendall, from Malvern, gets involved in the Awareness Day every year. She's had her own negative experience of being involved in a radio broadcast, which she explains in this Facebook video:
Jen said, despite the experience, being a radio DJ would actually be her dream job: "I would still love to do that, you know, spending my days interviewing musicians and listening to amazing music. And finding new bands."
On why she wanted to get involved in this year's campaign, Jen told us: "We've gone quite a long way to increasing diversity of other disabilities on TV and film, so I think perhaps it's time now for us, for people with stammers, to be seen and heard more.
"You don't see everyday people with stammers on TV and film. It's always, in films like the King's Speech, where they're the big hero. Or in A Fish Called Wanda, where they're the joke.
"I wanted to get involved in this because obviously I have a stammer, but also because one of my children stammers as well and I wanted her to see people like her on screen too."
Jane Powell, CEO, STAMMA said, "Our polling shows 59% of people are unable to name a character from TV or film who stammers — a startling absence of representation which drives lack of recognition in everyday life. This campaign intends to create greater visibility and understanding within the public that stammering is just how some people talk".
If you'd like to sign the petition, you can find it here.