Our global leadership team is the heartbeat of 50 Million Voices.
We are leaders who stutter and allies from different countries - we share ideas and best practice and bring people who stutter, employers and allies together to create change.
here do our leaders come from?
Africa & Middle East: Ghana, Kenya, South Africa
Americas: Canada, Peru, United States
Asia Pacific: India, New Zealand
Europe: France, Germany, Ireland, United Kingdom
You can find their contact details here
Our values
We believe that:
- Stuttering is a different way of speaking
- Stuttering should not be a barrier to getting any job
- Stuttering should not be a barrier to fulfilling our potential
- Organisations are more successful when they embrace stuttering
Our workplace experience
Our leaders work in a wide variety of roles in the public, private and third sectors.
All are active in promoting change for stuttering at work and many are board members of leading stuttering associations in their own countries.
Sharing global to act local
The culture and laws impacting stuttering often differ between countries. Our leaders learn from each other and then decide what action to take locally, using their in-country resources.
The value of honest feedback on initiatives tried out in different countries cannot be overestimated.
For example, when planning our pilot virtual practice interview event, we learnt from the practical and cultural experiences of the
- Ghana Stammering Association (GSA)
- The Indian Stammering Association (TISA)
- Redefining Stammering (UK)
- USA's National Stuttering Association (NSA)
Since then, we have delivered several successful and culturally inclusive practice interview events, with the latest attracting 113 participants from 16 countries.
“50 Million Voices has really helped us get started. It opens the door for international cooperation to empower people who stutter at work. Sharing ideas with people from different cultures and points of view is the best way to come up with innovative ideas.”
Juliette Blondeau & Mounah Bizri – France
“It’s been extremely helpful to collaborate with leaders in stuttering communities around the world. We all see the tremendous benefit of sharing and improving upon the wheel, instead of recreating it”
Pamela Mertz – National Stuttering Association, USA
Practice Interview events
[Please refer to our Practice Interviews section for more information]
So far, our Practice Interview events have involved over 300 participants, being nearly 200 people who stutter and over 100 allies who don't stutter. These participants have come from 20 countries and six continents.
99% of participants have found the experience 'valuable', with over 90% finding it either 'extremely' or 'very valuable'.
For feedback reports on our practice interviews, click here.
Getting involved in 50 Million Voices
Ways that people who stutter and their allies become involved with us include:
- Participating in one of our events, for example as an interviewee or interviewer in our practice interview events
- Encouraging your employer to include stuttering as part of their diversity and inclusion activities (see details on the Employers and Allies Section)
- Volunteering with us (see Volunteer section on this page)
- Raising money to enable us to run more events to help more people who stutter
- Championing stuttering in your workplace as a role model and change agent
- Contacting your 50 Million Voices country leader directly
"Up until a few days ago, I was utterly terrified at the prospect of having to interview for a future role outside of the military; however, the past two days have really enabled me to face and challenge my fears and preconceptions, but in a totally supportive and safe environment."
Interviewee – changing career
"I just wanted to reiterate how thankful I am to those that have helped make this possible - I have nothing but great feedback. It’s so inspiring to be aware of stammerers in my desired line of work, so to have such talented people on board and to be able to communicate with them is fantastic."
Interviewee – Not in employment
Feedback from the interviewers is included in the Impact section.
We plan to run another Practice Interview event in April 2022.