Mihir Karia © 2002
(February 2002)
www.stuttering-cured.com
www.stammering-cured.com
No one ascends into the heaven which ye seek, unless he who descends from the heaven which ye do not seek, enlighten him.- Dorn, Philosophia Speculative
I have been searching for a cure for stuttering for as long as I can remember. I've visited several speech therapists and taken intensive speach programs. I've taken alternative medications prescribed by various authorities in their fields. Several years ago, I took a correspondence course from The Emery Institute For Stutterers. Apparently, a Ted Emery was able to cure his own stuttering and the course is based upon what he learned while affecting his own cure. The course is structured such that the student receives 10 lessons via mail. The student sets the pace and requests the next lesson by filling out an evaluation form at the end of each lesson. Each lesson costs $100! The strange thing is that I never got to speak with Ted Emery. His wife, who replies all his emails and answers all phone calls, kept saying that Ted was unwell and was unable to come to the phone. I paid for the first lesson and thereafter, Ms. Emery charged my credit card an additional $300 without my consent. I did receive the 3 additional lessons but they proved to be as useless as the first. I did not bother to attempt to retrieve my money. I was so ashamed that I had let myself believe that this course would cure my stuttering. I recently visited their site to find that they are now offering their courses via email and for a mere $89 dollars. Their site looks a lot better now. They seem to have become net-savvy. Also, they do not claim to "cure" stuttering anymore. They say "Be Free of Stuttering".
You would think that I would have learned from this experience right? Wrong! Sometime during June or July of 2001 I came across Andrew Bell's web site. Andrew Bell claims to cure stuttering through his Stammering Cured Course. His site intrigued me and I decided to search the net for additional information on Andrew Bell and his course.
Although I did not find any additional information on Andrew Bell, I came across several other courses claiming to cure stuttering. One such site has a course developed by a Stephen Hill who claims to have cured his own stuttering by studying and emulating the British Prime Minister, Tony Blaire. One of the many press articles on his site suggests that he, Stephen Hill, cured himself of his stutter by studying videos of the Prime Minister of Britain and copying his mannerisms in front of a mirror. I rejected this course out of hand because there is no scientific basis for his self-proclaimed cure. He even has the audacity to quote The British Stammering Association, on his web site, as saying:
"This is the first time we've heard of anyone being cured by copying Tony Blair. We are glad it worked for Stephen."
I don't know what you get out of this quote but I can almost picture the spokesperson for The British Stammering Association, who authored this quote, snickering as she wrote this, trying hard to keep her hand steady while fighting the urge to fall off her chair and roll on the floor in uncontrollable fits of laughter. I felt like Stephen Hill was thumbing his nose at me as I read this quote and other material on his site. I mention Stephen Hill because, as it turns out, he was a student at Andrew Bell's course; at least, that's what Andrew Bell claims. More on this later.
Andrew Bell's site, although lacking polish, is very persuasive. This demonstrates that you don't need fancy graphics and animations to create a site that sells. All you need is a great copy that sells. Bell writes a wonderful copy indeed. Since I took the course, Andrew Bell has updated his site at least twice. If you want to see his site as I saw it, please email me and I shall point you to a URL that contains the version that I saw. Bell's site made me feel like he knew exactly what I was going through as a stutterer by stating the emotional aspects of stuttering. Additionally, he mentions the word "cure" about 40 to 50 times. He writes things such as:
"This web site is not aimed at HELPING your stammering problem but instead CURING it"
"When people start our course, most honestly think that our Course Information was merely 'ultra-positive hype', aimed solely to encourage people to attend. On the first day of the course, people are astonished when I 'walk my talk' by explaining that the reason they are here is to be rid of stammering - and that we will be working towards a 100% cure!"
"On the final evening of the 5-day course, we have a celebratory dinner to mark the beginning of a new confidently fluent life for the course members. In knowing this will happen at the end of the course, illustrates that we must be able to offer a CURE for people's stammering problems."
Powerful stuff! But he never mentions exactly how he will affect this cure and I never asked! In my eagerness to be cured, I failed to conduct any checks to determine whether Andrew Bell's claims were true. In retrospect, had I at least spoken to Andrew Bell over the phone, I would have known immediately that he stutters and that would have been enough to prevent me from making the mistake that I made in attending his course.
I so wanted to believe that stuttering could be cured that I chose not to think rationally. I saw Andrew Bell as a savior, a nobleman; for surely, anyone who cures people of their stuttering for a mere £610 must indeed be noble. I began imagining a life of fluent speech and of self-expression. I have helped several stutterers gain better fluency using a form of slow speech and other techniques that I have picked up and experimented with over the years, in an attempt to manage my own stuttering. Their amazed and thankful expressions have been very rewarding. I imagined what it would be like if I were able to "cure" their stuttering. I decided that I would apprentice under Andrew Bell and learn how to cure others of their stutter. I had finally found my calling. What a fulfilling life I would lead after the course. And so, on this glimmer of hope and gossamer wings of goodness, I began to build larger and larger castles in the sand. Reality had no place in my wonderful imaginary world as I peered through my rose colored glasses into a rosy and not too distant future.
Was I in for a rude awakening!