A BRAVE teacher who shared his story about embracing his stutter will be supporting a course in Stirling for others who have the speech disorder.

Adam Black opened-up about his condition to the BBC’s The Social earlier this year, talking about the difficulties he experienced before he learned to accept who he was.

At times, his speech impediment was so bad that he would even pretend his name was John because it was easier to say.

He told the BBC: “I was really into dinosaurs when I was younger, and I thought two things.

“First of all, I love them, and second of all, they’re dead and they don’t talk back. So for me it was a perfect career.

“Imagine that, choosing your own career, choosing your whole life because you didn’t want to talk to people.”

But, 12 years ago, a chance encounter with a therapy programme for people who stutter changed everything.

The McGuire Programme, which trains people to cope with speech disorders, taught Adam to accept his condition. 

He said: “They just tell you to embrace your stutter, and that was the biggest change for me when I realised it was okay to be who I really was.

“It’s the content of what I’m saying that’s important – not the delivery.”

After that, Adam’s life changed.

He said: “I decided I didn’t want to talk to dead bones all day and I thought: ‘What job would I really enjoy?’ and I landed on teaching.”

Now, as well as working as a teacher, Adam has since settled down and started a family – and claims reading to his two children is one of the highlights of his day.

He said: “Every night I read to them and it’s the best thing in the world, because I never thought I would be able to read to any children that I would have.”

Adam will be helping with The McGuire Programme’s event when it comes to Stirling’s Highland Hotel from October 10 – 14.

The Programme are also holding an information day at the hotel on Saturday, September 29 from 2PM until 4PM.

For more information on The McGuire Programme’s events, click here.