Wednesday, 11 September

Minister OJ reveals how stammering made him a good writer

Entertainment
Minister OJ/Facebook: Singer-songwriter Michael Oware Sakyi, alias OJ

Minister OJ has observed “very good communicators stammer”.

Due to the speech disorder, the star singer-songwriter and composer said, “you end up reading widely and writing more, and soon you become a very good writer and sharp at thinking”.

This happens, OJ continued, “because the energy you cannot use for speaking, you convert into something else”.

“This is how I became a writer,” OJ revealed. “I couldn’t talk that much and so I had to read and write more.”

On aid for stammering, the Obi Nya Wo Aye hitmaker said, “sometimes, we grow out of it”.

He spoke to Taller Dee on the Journey to Heaven programme on No.1 FM, 105.3.

Pointing to YouTube for more on practical techniques to overcome stammering, OJ noted, “relaxing and taking in air slowly” helps.

“With the little air you get, say more quickly,” the Gospel musician added. “This is because the more you drag the words, the more the air gets stuck.”

Minister OJ said what exacerbates stammering is the condition “makes us impatient and if you’re not careful, you’ll start throwing your hands about”.

He asked people around individuals living with dysfluency to, as a matter of courtesy, allow them finish their sentences on their own. If not, he warned, it further frustrates the individual.

OJ posited to those struggling with the speech disorder, perhaps, “God is using the condition to slow you down so you commit to reading and knowledge acquisition so that by the time it goes away – and it will with time – you’d be weighty mentally”.

For instance, OJ cited, “former President John Agyekum Kufour stammered but the man is widely-read”.

Source: classfmonline.com/Prince Benjamin