In 19^th century southern France, many deaf people were working in vine yards. It gave rise to a sub-culture, wherein deafness was not considered a disability and deaf workers had no problem in social interactions and finding work. Many people with visible or audible departure from the 'expected' norms in a society, search for acceptance more, than mere 'cure'. Many gay and lesbian couples prefer living in communes for the same reasons today. People who stammer are just about 1-2 per hundred among the general population. They are scattered. They can not start a commune for a variety of practical reasons. If they did so, society would lose yet one more opportunity of coming to grips with the diversity hidden in its bosom.

A good compromise seems to be self-help groups. A self-help group can be good strategy to maintain the gains of self therapy. SHG is based on the following principles:

1. True acceptance to a CWS or PWS can be offered by people who stammer themselves, who accept it and are not ashamed of it.

2. Such people, having tried out various therapies and management approaches, can share their experiences, coach and guide others. They carry more credibility as counselors.

3. Their motivation is more likely to be selfless and not based on commercial considerations.

4. They can provide a suitable atmosphere for the younger PWS/ CWS to practice new speech motor / cognitive / affective skills.

5. Such groups, consisting of PWS, are likely to be free from other divisive influences: church affiliations, allegiance to commercial interest groups or therapy approaches.

Some practical modalities to start a self-help group are as follows.

1. It can be started even with just two PWS. When the number goes above 10, ideally a second support group should be started. This is so because, if a group meets for an hour or so, then, not more then ten members will be able to get 3-5 minutes of talking time each. It is important that every member in a SHG gets a chance to talk and share his thoughts.

2. The self-help group should be convened or facilitated by a recovering PWS. While there is no known 'cure' for stammering, when a PWS starts to accept that he or she has a communication problem and starts to do actively something about it, she or he should be termed a 'recovering PWS'. Now, if she or he can spare some time, to organize such a group and facilitate it, they will be the ideal SHG coordinators.

3. Role of SHG coordinators: A SHG coordinator needs good 'people' skills (counseling, motivating, facilitation, problem solving etc) and information management skills. They will be gathering objective self-help information and sharing it in the group 2-4 times a month. They will be conducting various interactive speech (motor, cognitive, affective) exercises in the group, ensuring that everyone gets equal opportunity to participate- paying close attention to the special needs of girls/ women and young children. TISA can help provide necessary training and skills to such volunteers. Essentially, they have to play the role of an elder, a coach and a sympathetic but well informed friend.

4. What activities should a group do, month after month? There is no end to the creativity and imagination of the group. There are many good documents on the web, which give specific details of activities to be conducted in a SHG. Check the following links meant for children especially:
   
   http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/activities-to-develop-and-improve-listening-skills-and-attention-1110

   http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/activities-to-develop-social-communication-skills-pragmatics-2573

   Inter-group visits, contacts, inviting subject experts or other relevant people (principal or teachers from a local school) could be good ideas when a group has started functioning regularly.

5. Individual participation in such a group may not be regular. This is because stammering is a variable condition. When we are passing through a bad patch or when we are facing a specific challenge like an upcoming job interview, our motivation to take part in SHG may be high. Later on, it may fall, when we are having no problem with speech for days. But as long as a core group is available to welcome and induct a new member, it is not a problem.

6. A self-help group can also be based on the use of Internet or telephones- with occasional face to face meetings. This is especially true of big cities, where members may find commuting very time consuming. Such a group can be set up by the coordinator easily at Yahoo and other social networking sites. Check following groups:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianPWS

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StutteringSupport

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stutteringselfhelp
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Covert-S

Skype and other VOIP technologies can also help such tele-groups and may become popular in the near future, when poor bandwidth and connectivity problems have been removed.

More resources on web : The SHG coordinator should browse for inspiring stories, latest information and other trivia related to stammering and share it with the groups members. Here are some more addresses:

www.stutterisa.org

http://stuttertalk.com

http://www.stuttering-answers.com

http://www.geocities.com/blockbusterca/index.htm

www.nsastutter.org

www.africastuttering.org

www.stutteringhelp.org

www.stutter.ca

http://www.stammering.org/links_nsas.html