Our impact
Assessing the impact of some of our activities is easy
Practice Interviews – our flagship events
To date, we’ve run six of these events involving nearly 600 participants. Five have been held in English and one in French
- 257 people who stutter from over 30 countries have received 346 free practice interviews
- 298 interviewers - 90 who stutter and 208 allies who don’t, have enhanced their interviewing and listening skills
- 99% of participants found the events ‘Valuable’, with over 90% finding them either ‘Extremely’ or ‘Very’ valuable
Several interviewees have subsequently secured jobs and internships following their practice interviews. One, having gained his long sought-after promotion, returned as an interviewer in our next event.
“After discussing with my practice interviewers, I made a disclosure prior to the real interview.
This was a big help. I felt more at ease, which enabled me to perform better and ultimately get the job”
Interviewee, Ireland
“I found the whole experience a real eye-opener from start to finish – I’ve learnt some important life lessons around society’s obsession with perfect communication and articulation and how I feed that.
Also, the importance of staying present in the moment and really listening to another person”
Interviewer, UK
You can find the evaluations of our previous practice interview events below:
It’s harder to assess the impact of other activities, but feedback tells us they’re making a difference. Here are a few examples:
Supporting employers & allies
- 8 major employers – TSB Bank, Bristol Myers Squibb, Compass Group PLC, EY, Michael Page, Reach PLC, Sage Group PLC and Schlumberger – have officially supported our Practice Interview events. More than 25 other employers, large and small, have also been represented
- Ran 4 stuttering-friendly workshops, including one for 50 recruitment specialists in one firm
- Shortlisted twice by a major firm to be their chosen charity of the year
- Publicly named by Reach PLC as a reason for their nomination as a Top 50 Inclusive Company
- Presenting a 'Best practice for supporting employees and applicants who stutter' session for Audi AG's global Diversity & Inclusion event
Compass Group's poster is a great example of how stuttering--friendly
employers increase awareness and encourage positive change.
“An amazing experience. I played my part as interviewer and ally and got the start of a much needed education around stuttering. “
Interviewer, UK
"As someone who stammers, I could have really done with something like this 10 years ago when I was entering the world of work!"
Interviewer who stammers, UK
"I wouldn't miss it for anything. My practice interviews have really helped me to be more confident and stammer without regret. And my interviewers were amazing."
Interviewee, Ghana
Sharing and educating
Co-presented talks to stuttering associations in Canada, Kenya, Peru, South Africa, & USA
"The most valuable part of the experience for me was to meet other people who stutter. I haven't felt that sense of community in a long time."
Anonymous (Interviewee)
Presented to a leading Disability charity and a Speech and Language Therapists' Clinical Excellence Network (CEN) in the UK.
“Thank you so much for joining us today and sharing so openly!
It was a wonderful discussion with so many important points for us to take away.”
Experienced Speech & Language Therapist, UK
A founding member of 'Disability Ethical AI?' helping to counter in-built bias from artificial intelligence towards people who speak differently
Our leader for Ghana shared the perspectives of people from Africa who stammer at the launch of the United Nations report 'Artificial Intelligence and disability: Balance of risks and opportunities'
Supporting 5 in-house stammering networks, including the BBC and NHS Stammering Networks.
Our 50 Million Voices leader for India was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 (weekly listeners: 10.8 million)
Our 50 Million Voices founder and our leader for India were interviewed separately on BBC Radio 5 Live (weekly listeners: 5.9 million)