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Ed Balls meets pupils at Thornhill Primary School in Barnsbury |
Ed Balls: Life with a stammer... it’s tough
At DVD launch, schools chief reveals how he deals with condition ‘which never gets cured’
HE didn’t deny it but he really didn’t want to talk about it either.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls’ visit to the launch of a DVD to help teachers relate to children with a stammer threw the spotlight on his own experiences with the condition.
But the Labour MP, who visited Thornhill Primary School, in Barnsbury, on Tuesday morning, deflected all questions on how he has dealt with the condition, except to say: “Having a stammer is about what you are. It’s not something you catch, it’s not something which never gets cured.
“It goes all the way through your life and you deal with it. I have never denied it. But this isn’t about me today, it’s about the hundreds of thousands of children who want to get support across the country.”
He added: “You can go on to be a journalist, a top singer, a politician who makes three or four speeches every day and if you get the right help and are confident in yourself you can make huge progress.
“It doesn’t ever mean it’s easy. There are times when it’s tough and that’s true for me and lots of people who do these jobs every day.”
Two years ago, Mr Balls asked the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children, based at Finsbury Health Centre, to come up with a way of helping teachers support children with the condition.
The response is the DVD, Wait, Wait... I’m not Finished Yet, featuring children talking of their experiences and previewed in front of actor Michael Palin and Mr Balls on Tuesday.
The Monthy Python actor, whose father had a stammer and who has a cameo in the film, said: “Since playing a stammerer in A Fish Called Wanda, I’ve learned more than I ever did from my father. As the son of a stammerer I really welcome this initiative and launch not only because it helps the children but it will better enable teachers to understand what stammering children have to say.
“When my father was alive lots of my friends didn’t know what to do about him. They were just embarrassed about it.”
He added: “It’s an enormous problem to have all these things you want to say and not be able to say them.
“It’s even more of a problem now than ever before because we’re in a fast-moving world of soundbites and one-liners and you have to be able to immediately articulate what you want to say. So in a sense I think the whole thing is about justice for children whose ability tends to be overlooked.”
At the launch, Mr Balls pledged £500,000 to begin a fundraising appeal for expanded services at the Michael Palin Centre as well as setting up a second centre in the north. |
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