A former pupil at Theale Green School has opened up about how drama classes helped him accept his stammer.
Tom Wells has been on a long journey to embrace his lifelong speech impediment as part of his identity.
And this journey culminated with a recent TED Talk he gave to around 500 people about his experience.
Mr Wells, a second-year BA history student at the University of Oxford, says his time performing in school shows and extracurricular activities helped grow his confidence.
“In the stammering community, there are people who want to hold on to traditional stereotypes,” he explained.
“They see stammering as a disability, something that restrains them, so they grab speech therapy; they see it as something to get rid of.
“Then there are other people, like me, who argue that, yes, we have a stammer, but we shouldn’t try to hide it or change it.
“Like our ethnicity and background, it’s just part of who we are, and we should celebrate it as another factor that makes people unique.”
Mr Wells presented his talk on January 20 at Oxford Town Hall after meeting TEDx Oxford president Julius Chua at the Oxford Freshers’ Fair, who urged him to apply to join the conference.
“I put in my application with a five-minute video outlining what I wanted to speak about, and I was chosen to do the talk.
“The theme was ‘we are all storytellers’, which I thought associated quite well with the current thoughts that were running through my head.”
TED Talks (technology, education and design) present a great idea in 18 minutes or less.
“I had a couple of months to get the speech together,” added Mr Wells. “The final cut was 17 minutes and 58 seconds.”
The video recording is available to millions to watch on YouTube, but Mr Wells says this thought did not concern him.
“I’m one of the odd people in the stammering community, because I feel far more comfortable speaking to loads of people than a small group.
“I think it’s because in the small group, there’s more pressure to contribute and there’s always the chance that the conversation is more disjointed.
“So, for me I like public speaking, because everyone has to be quiet and listen.”
Reflecting on how his school days helped him overcome the nerves and stigma of his condition, Mr Wells added: “One of the strengths of Theale Green is their extracurricular activities.
“I loved doing school shows. Not as main parts, I guess because of my stammer, which was a bit sad.
“I remember there was quite a lot of discussions about my stammer in the run-up to exams because then you had to be fluent in order to get the marks.
“It did feel like the course and the grading system was kind of stacked against me.”
But Mr Wells performed well in both sets of exams, and has gone on to publish multiple articles for the British Stammering Association.
He has also joined the Oxford Speakers Club and has discussed stammering as a student helper during the Oxford admission process.
Visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLy4vyI7NSI&t=11s to view Mr Well’s TED Talk.
