Madam, - Mary Mulvihill's short but fascinating article recounting some of Darwin's scientific exploits, discoveries and hypotheses failed to mention that he achieved all, despite having a stammer. Celebrating Darwin's birthday is an opportunity for all people who stammer to take heart - stammering in itself does not have to stop a person from achieving great things in life.
Societies' attitudes to people who stammer (and indeed to any difference noted in terms of perceived "abnormality") cause much of the problem. Learning tolerance and becoming more accepting of difference can remove the stigma of stammering, reducing its impact enormously. - Yours sincerely,
MARGARET M. LEAHY,
Clinical Speech & Language Studies,
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Trinity College,
Dublin 2.