2004 World Congress for People Who Stutter
Fluency and Beyond: A Holistic Look at Stuttering
Hosted by the Australian Speak Easy Association
Perth, Australia
Peter Dhu, Congress Convenor
February 15-20, 2004
Over 350 delegates attended the 2004 World Congress at the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle, Western Australia. Of the people who registered there were 100 International delegates from 26 Nations, over 100 from the state of Western Australia, and an additional 100 from the other states of Australia. Many of these delegates were able to attend through scholarships offered by the ASEA and the ISA.
The Congress Programme Committee invited speakers from many nations to represent the wide cross section of treatment philosophies throughout the world. The programme was extremely comprehensive and offered many plenary sessions and workshops. These workshops and sessions were often led by People Who Stutter and were in the theme of a “holistic look at stuttering” In addition, social functions included a welcoming party by the Esplanade Hotel Pool and a closing function over the water at the Fremantle Sailing Club. To acquaint the delegates with Western Australia, tours were offered before and after the Congress.
Two sentiments expressed by delegates, which represented the views of many, were : “I came just looking for fluency but will leave with so much more.” AND “Even though I was in a foreign country I felt at home.”
A special thanks goes to Peter Dhu and his planning committee for all their work in the past four years to make the 2004 Congress a great success. Also, many thanks to West Australian Speak Easy who was able to raise $25,000 through sausage sizzles, raffles, chocolate drives, Entertainment Book sales, BBQ’s etc. to help with the expenses of the Congress and to supply scholarship money. Finally, many thanks to Dr. Mark Irwin, Chairman of ISA for his work as Chair of the Programme Committee.