Iain helps stammerers to make their voices heard
NICOLA FINDLAY
An East Kilbride man who suffered from a crippling stammer for most of his life is now helping others to make their voices heard.
Iain Gray, from Whitehills, a coach with the McGuire Programme, has helped numerous people on their path to finding ways to deal with their stammer, including former Scotland rugby captain Kelly Brown.
But Iain’s own journey hasn’t been easy – from struggling to say “I do” at his own wedding to having the confidence to say his own name.
And he is now keen to highlight what it’s like for people struggling with a stammer in conjunction with International Stammering Awareness Day on October 22.
A documentary in 2018, School for Stammerers, brought to the fore just how much the condition impacts peoples’ lives.
The 68-year-old, who worked with Rolls-Royce for 35 years, had spent most of his life trying to hide his stammer but after seeing Pop Idol’s Gareth Gates talk about his struggle and the work of the McGuire Programme in 2004, Iain hasn’t looked back since.
He went on to meet Gareth at an event in Glasgow and his first coach was Wet, Wet, Wet guitarist Graeme Duffin.
Iain’s first memories of feeling ridiculed for his stammer are in childhood after a number of speech therapists failed to give him the necessary tools to cope.
He told the News: “At five or six I was sent to a speech therapist and, unknown to my family at the time, a child psychologist.
“My parents were extremely supportive but I spent most of my time playing with toys.
“A pattern began where I was OK in the room with the therapist but as soon as I went back out into the real world I was as bad as ever.
“When I was nine my dad got a job in India and we moved out there.
“The first really traumatic experience I remember was being made to audition for Hook in the school production of Peter Pan.
“The teacher, who I later found out was unbelievably also a speech therapist, made me stand up in front of