Student Brings Hope to Local Stutterers

Madison Garcia refused to admit she had a stuttering problem. The speech disorder would come and go in phases. Talking on the phone or saying her name was sometimes problematic.

“Because you feel like you can’t communicate,” she says, “you feel like you really don’t have a place in society. That was my biggest fear. If I ended up saying this is what I struggle with, I’d have to deal with it.”

It wasn’t until she was a junior in high school that she finally went to see a speech therapist.

“I’m predominately fluent and would only have difficulty in certain situations,” she says. “But I personally struggled and was in denial for years and years.”

Visiting the speech therapist was just the first step. She says the following year was the most difficult in her life as she fought to come to terms with the disability.

Garcia, a sophomore political science major at Westmont, has started the first fully established and chartered Santa Barbara chapter of the National Stuttering Association. The group will meet the second Sunday evening of each month starting Sunday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. at Westmont’s Carroll Observatory. It’s free and open to the public.

“My goal and mission is to let people know that you have to realize that it’s OK or you will make your life so difficult,” Garcia says. “It just corrodes you from the inside out. To feel like you’re not good enough or to feel like you need to overcompensate or are constantly not reaching the bar, it really kills your spirit and diminishes you.

“The chapter is a place of support and encouragement and letting people know that we’re here for you.”

Garcia grew up in Alhambra, Calif. and hopes to work in international politics and internationally as a disability advocate.

For more information about NSA Santa Barbara, please contact Garcia at mgarcia@westmont.edu or (626) 786-3195.