Rotherham man's stammering videos helped him gain confidence

Sam Bagshaw said he began making videos about having a stammer during the first Covid lockdown

A man who went viral on social media after talking about living with a stammer has said he wanted to help other people with the same condition.

One post by Sam Bagshaw on TikTok was seen by more than four million people.

The 27-year-old, from Rotherham, said he had been living with a stammer for as long as he could remember.

He said: "I never thought I'd be a person that records myself and shows it to thousands of people. It's really helped my confidence."

Mr Bagshaw said his parents had become aware of his stammer as soon as he began talking.

"They noticed and took me to a speech therapist and that really helped for a little bit," he said.

However, he said he had soon decided to "try and do it" himself.

Mr Bagshaw said he recently posted about the difficulty of using buses which were "busy and loud"

Mr Bagshaw said speaking with a stammer had made school life "quite challenging".

He said it made him less inclined to join in activities like sports because of "a lack of confidence".

"I feel like sometimes I missed out on things in the past that I would have really liked to do," he added.

However, during the first Covid lockdown he said he decided to push himself and he began to post videos on social media about living with a stammer.

"I really wanted to make videos just to show people that people with a stammer can still do things that they might find challenging," he said.

'Inspire, push and challenge'

Mr Bagshaw said his favourite posts were about the experience of ordering food at drive-through restaurants.

"They're my followers' favourites as well because they know how hard it can be at drive-throughs ordering the food that you want," he said.

"I really like doing them because if I don't do one for a while I might get nervous of doing them again so I do them as often as I can."

Mr Bagshaw said his videos which were viewed by thousands of followers were intended to "inspire people to push and challenge themselves".

"They get me out of my comfort zone," he said.

"I never thought I'd be a person that records myself and shows it to thousands of people.

"It's definitely something that when I was younger I never thought I'd have the confidence to do."