First officer of the Army with stuttering: "When I was young, my horizon was to hide it to be able to enter and today I see that there is no discrimination"

Is not seen nothing in Luis that asome to

, which uncap to reveal discrimination or injustice.

His is not a story of a person with profound interruptions when speaking, or of a child banished to the corners of mockery, or of a professional amputee by the regulatory skeleton of his company.

But it is the story of a difference.

Because Luis is the first person with a

to enter the command ranks of the

.

The data is supported by the

, a combative and historical collective that has fought, negotiated, raised awareness and agreed with dozens of institutions in this country, including the

.

So much is the fight of the TTM Foundation that its president,

, convinced

on

Tuesday in person

that stuttering could not be a reason for exclusion from work and that same Friday the then President of the

took the matter to the Minister council.

Thus, one day in 2005, dysphemia ceased to be an

for public employment.

And, two years later, the Armed Forces entered that universe of equality ...

«From a very young age, I wanted to be in the military. But still being in high school my horizon was to hide my stuttering to be able to enter the Army, because then it was still an exclusion criterion. To be an Army officer you must have a

. So I enrolled in Business Administration because, despite the difficulties, I had my clear objective. I enrolled in the University in July 2007 with stuttering still as a criterion for not being admitted to the Army, but in September of that year it disappeared as a reason for exclusion. So the way was clear. And now I see that here in the Army, I have never suffered discrimination because of my stuttering.

It is

, 32 years old, Andalusian from Algeciras, with a house and girlfriend in Malaga and current destination in Seville.

Since joining the Armed Forces in 2015, Luis Gómez Siles has been a troop soldier in the

, a cadet at the

, the first of the 74th Promotion of the Army Quartermaster Corps and, finally, since July 2020, Army officer.

Lieutenant, to be more exact.

July 2020 ... That means five years after Luis entered the Armed Forces, but 13 after stuttering in Spain ceased to be an obstacle to being a military man.

- Why has it taken 13 years for a person with stuttering to become an Army officer?

- Escapes me.

I may have an opinion, but I don't know what the reason is for sure.

My opinion is that when there is something difficult there is a

.

When there was compulsory military service, stuttering was a cause of exclusion, like having flat feet.

And it may be that this generated a personal exclusion, that is, an idea that if you stuttered you were not going to be able to make a career in the military world.

I belong to the first generation who, when they decided their future, already knew that it was possible to be in the military with a stutter ».

Stuttering ... A speech hiatus, a purely motor speaking block, a pause in the fluidity of what is said, but not of what is thought.

It affects

, according to the national exactitude of the TTM Foundation. A retrospective study by

maintains that 83% of adults who stutter were

by their peers during childhood. And a work by the speech therapist

estimates that only 16% of children under 6 years of age with stuttering go to treatment at school, early care or public health system. More than 80% of children with dysphemia treat their speech dysfunction in

.

On October 22, World Stuttering Day was celebrated.

And on October 22 (2015) Luis Gómez Siles entered the Spanish Army.

"You could say that International Stuttering Day is my personal anniversary in the Armed Forces."

Siles, the lieutenant of the Spoken Forces.

Most of the time, Luis Gómez Siles does not stutter.

He maintains a fluid speech and, furthermore, oblivious to any victimhood.

But he knows that there are still many injured out there.

There are few things worse than not knowing something, and one is knowing it badly.

And stuttering is very poorly known.

It is believed that it is a fundamental problem, a psychological failure, a scare;

or transmit you impatience, some people get ridiculed ...

.

It is never connected with intelligence or the capacity for expression, but with the way of transmitting.

There are huge communicators with stuttering.

And world leaders.

- For instance?

-

, President of the United States.

Lieutenant Siles was a child without dysphemia until he was 4 years old.

From then on, a

appeared in him

that seems to have moderated over time.

«I received some comments, but without bad faith.

Sometimes I heard that

in a slightly offensive way.

But it never hurt, because I never had a complex.

I have always experienced stuttering as a characteristic of me, something that shapes me as a human being.

I have seen people more uncomfortable than me with my stuttering.

He says it often, without a hint of blockages.

But throughout the day, Luis sometimes gets stuck.

“It does not depend on any specific situation.

It just appears.

It can be in the most trivial situation in the world, having a quiet breakfast or in a work meeting ... It does not depend on external factors ».

- And before the troops?

- It doesn't usually happen, but sometimes it does.

- And in what way do the troops receive an order from a superior with stuttering?

- With absolute normality.

The troop receives the orders like the employees of any other company towards their superiors.

The Armed Forces have

exactly the same

for stuttering as society does.

The proof is that I was the first in the 74th Class, which shows that there is no discrimination in the Academy, and that I am an officer, which shows that there is no discrimination in military work either.

There may be something specific, but I have never seen it.

Stuttering does remain a reason for exclusion in a small military setting: admission to educational centers for the training of aspiring personnel with flight responsibility.

In 2019, the BOE established it as

: "

that hinders the intelligibility of oral expression will be considered a cause of exclusion."

Lieutenant Siles: «It is logical.

It is a security issue.

Luis Gómez Siles has belonged to the Spanish Stuttering Foundation since before he became a member of the military.

«We fight to make society reconsider and

the group of people with stuttering.

The Foundation is a victory.

Perhaps this is another, the first military command of Spain with a stutter.

«As a commander, I don't know of anyone else in the Army.

As a troop, yes.

Surely, after my generation, there will begin to be more officers with stuttering.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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