Let’s talk about stuttering and shift the paradigm on stuttering and self-worth.
This blog reflects the author’s personal thoughts and experiences. Read the disclaimer here. People much more qualified than me have written extensively on a wide array of stuttering topics. I would urge you to check out some of their work listed in the Resources page.
Note: This section is heavily adapted and influenced from the book Stammering Pride and Prejudice: Difference not Defect1. It is a really good read and explores deeper themes of stigmas, stuttering as a difference, relation to the disability movement, stuttering activism, etc. Is stuttering a defect or simply a difference? Viewing anything as a defect puts the entire onus on the individual to change and fix the defect. A larger conversation could be had about what even constitutes a defect and who gets to decide that. But tabling that for now, lets touch on the different models of disability. These models serve as lenses through which one can view disabilities. ...
Many People Who Stutter (PWS) are able to hide their stuttering by using a host of secondary behaviors like avoiding certain words, using fillers, etc. This is often deemed “successful” as the listener stays unaware of the fact that the speaker stutters. You would be surprised to know how many PWS are able to go through the majority of their lives without letting their friends, family or colleagues know that they stutter. ...
Many People Who Stutter (PWS) go through speech therapy at some point in their lives. The goals may differ for each individual: from achieving fluency to managing stuttering, to improving communication skills and confidence, etc. Similarly, the outcome and experience of therapy can vary widely. Some PWS could find therapy to be helpful and empowering while others may have a more complex relationship with their therapy– finding it unhelpful at best and harmful at worst. At the end of the day, it is a personal choice. ...
This is probably one of the biggest points of discussion in the stuttering community. The traditional school of thought and associated therapy strategies have largely focused on achieving fluency. Speaking fluently (or always striving to) and fitting in with societal norms is the only goal for many Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) and People Who Stutter (PWS). I belong to the camp that rejects this notion and will give my reasons as to why: ...
As with any other difference (especially the neurodivergent ones), there are a lot of misconceptions about stuttering. This infographic helps to dispel some of the most common ones. In the past, I have shared this around my neighborhood and my workplace during National Stuttering Awareness Week (NSAW) and International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD) to help raise awareness. Feel free to use it however you like! Download your pdf copy here. ...
Have you ever wondered how best to work with People Who Stutter (PWS)? Give this a read and hey kudos for the thoughtful efforts! Be Patient: Just like everyone else, PWS deserve their time and space to speak and get their thoughts out. While it could be tempting to complete their words and sentences for them (with the intention of “helping” them out), it seldom is helpful. Sure the conversation might take an extra second or two but even in this ultra fast-paced world, one would hope that it is not too much to ask. ...
My favorite definition of stuttering comes from the book Stammering Pride and Prejudice: Difference not Defect1 : “Stammering (or Stuttering) is a neurodevelopmental difference that leads to a breakdown in the forward execution of speech sounds produced in the context of language, compared to societal norms.” I like it because it not only talks about stuttering’s physical characteristics but also highlights its neurological foundation. The breakdowns (or disfluencies) mentioned most often appear as repetitions, prolongations, or blocks 2. ...