Cape Town – It's said the average person ranks the fear of public speaking higher than the fear of death. For most people who stutter, public speaking is not something they would remotely entertain.
Darin Wolfaardt has had a stutter since the age of around six. Wallowing in shame, guilt and self-hate, his stutter controlled his life until the age of 21.
Then he decided to do something about it. Thanks to a never-say-die attitude, he overcame his stutter and a decade later he is a competent communicator and successful sales manager, having completely reinvented himself.
Putting his new-found ability to an even more stringent test, he decided to join Toastmasters and ended up winning the prize for the best speech for the day. He shares his "miraculous" story to inspire other stutterers.
"Through the end of primary school to my high school career, my stuttering affliction gained momentum and escalated into an out of control cycle of panic.
"The fear of stuttering made me stutter more and the shame, guilt and self-hate towards myself swallowed me up. My stutter controlled my life, the decisions I made, my belief system of what I can or can’t do and it crippled my potential to amount to anything," Wolfaardt said.
"At the age of 21, I decided to do something about my stutter. After working on my speech for the last 10 years, I have gained control of my stutter and I am a competent communicator.
"I have gone on to work in sales in a corporate telecommunication company, successfully manage clients, run meetings and worked my way up to being made a member of the company.
"I have been told I have excellent communication skills. The person I am now is completely different to who I was 10 years ago and people who know me and my history will say how miraculous my story is.
"I believe there is not a lot of knowledge out there on stuttering and it can feel hopeless at times for a person with this affliction.
"I would love to tell my story and inspire stutterers that they can overcome what seems like the impossible. Similarly, to inspire others with whatever challenges that they face in life and to let them know that we all have the ability to become great individuals.
"I recently joined Toastmasters, which is an organisation for people to join to become strong public speakers. I just did my first speech the week before last.
"The only stutterer I know there, I won the prize for best speech for the day. I plan to challenge myself against these fluent speakers to try to win as many awards as I can."
Someone filmed his speech and he has shared it on YouTube. Wolfaardt said the feedback has been "amazing" and it has had the desired effect – "inspiring people and giving them hope".