commentr/StutterDecember 5, 2018

Content

No problem! I wish I had Reddit when I was in school. A ton of good information out there and people willing to help. Just stay confident and get peace from knowing people will get your back. Of course you’ll get the few assholes but most of the time they don’t know you have an issue because we hide it or just don’t participate. So as much as it sucks we gotta give them benefit of the doubt, but if they still laugh they are just an asshole and you should find a way to bring it up to your teacher/principal. I still stutter on the daily, but I’ve gotten really good at being fluent. Most of the corporations that come in and out of work can never tell I have an issue. It’s literally just from having to talk so much and just getting more comfortable with my work environment. Luckily the older you get the more mature people are about the situation. I was trying to explain something to a new client and was struggling. So I stopped and said, sorry I have a speech problem, and she said that’s fine take your time. People are usually sympathetic and understand that it’s a big issue. We’re just so good at hiding it or avoiding speaking situations that people don’t really see stuttering as an issue! Sorry another long response but my wife injured her hand last month. She was like wow I never realized how much I do with my hand. I said ok picture that as your voice, but it never goes away, it just gets better. I asked her, what did you do today with your voice. She listed off about 30 different things. I told her for stutterers each one of those experiences are like little life and death situations. She never realized how hard it is. We just gotta spread the word so people get off our backs. What helped me the most was just changing my mindset. I realized ok I probably will stutter, and in most cases no one will care. If someone laughs or mocks me, I get angry and tell them I have a speech problem and that’s not cool. If it happens more than once at work I could easily go to my higher authorities and send them to HR. This is the time to have a speech problem! No one wants an incident so they’ll go at lengths to accommodate us.

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceSchool & WorkCommunity & Support

Subthemes

Hiding & ConcealmentEmployment & CareerValidation & Empathy