Speaking of talking......

[Michelle Apostolides]

I've snipped off Mike's fascinating message about his speech writing process not because it isn't relevant to what I need to say, more that it fascinated me so much that I need to get my thoughts in order. 

Firstly, you need to know something of my background. 

After I was born, my mum was told that I had cerebral palsy and would therefore be unlikely to amount to very much in life because of the brain damage. GCSEs, A Levels, an Honours degree and a postgrad in translation later, here I am.  

I didn't find out I had CP until my mum had to tell our new GP when I was about 12. Not a biggie, I just got on with my life knowing that I had more than just wobbly legs and a dodgy eye. 

So, about three years later I got the mother of all headaches, which prompted a CT scan or something like that. The results of that were surprising, because the grey areas where the brain damage seemed to have occurred were the areas that mainly affect speech and language - I speak fluent French and German and can get by in Dutch and Italian. 

The point being that all my life I have never been afraid to speak to an audience - I organised debating and participated in debating competitions at school and at University,  I was student rep in my final year and loved it. When my Grandad died last November, I gave the eulogy. My mum says that I was interested in reading and newspapers since I could grab things. 

I don't understand it, but I wonder if fear of pubilc speaking is as much psychological as anything. It never bothers me, so I must be missing the fear part of it in my brain !

Michelle 









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