Defect

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. ...

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. ...