My father stuttered very badly growing up. He stuttered all through school and was painfully shy and introverted and afraid of public speaking. He never dated, and didn't have a lot of friends because of it. He met my mother a little later after college and grad school while he was working on his Ph.D, and married and had eleven children. As an adult he's gotten control of his stammer to a large extent; his speech has always been slow and hesitant and he's still shy but he never stutters very badly unless nervous, excited, or under a lot of pressure (or around his siblings it always got really bad -- they made a lot of fun of him growing up). When I was growing up and getting made fun of for being so cross eyed he was a huge source of understanding and encouragement for me. He was also dead set against us going to school because his experiences there were so bad, and my siblings and I were all homeschooled. I can only imagine how much worse the teasing about my eyes would have been if I had gone to school. His stammer didn't cause me, or any of my siblings to lack respect for him. On the contrary, we had and still have a ton of respect for him for all he's accomplished in life. He's also way more patient and understanding than my mother and a good listener. When we were growing up, he did his best to be kind and understanding to all of us and gave us the best of his time and energy and friendship and patience. A little trouble speaking is really nothing in the face of all those good qualities and I can say pretty confidently that my siblings and I have never really been embarrassed of him or impatient with him, because he has always been such a kind and understanding father to us.