Lol@ various news outlets declaring that being awkward and stuttering are signs of dementia. Do you think he uses speecheasy? I found when using it I could read flawlessly off paper but any off script material would be even more of a struggle than if I had been speaking off the cuff the whole time. For me, speecheasy made it difficult to speak at all because I have shaped my life around avoiding public speaking and reading out loud around non family. So like, if I had the thing I could give a ted talk but I couldn't do a stand up routine even though I'm more of a joker than a professor. I may only be funny because of the pain my stutter has caused me so I'm not sure I would use my 7 fluent days to do that. I understand the sentiment that stutterer can do anything the fluent can do BUT I really don't think this applies to employment. I'm sure we all have been passed over by jobs for no other reason. Even jobs that require a low level of public speaking or phone services. For more than 10 years I tried to follow one career and then another. Was certified and very good at what I did. Have been fired for stuttering, I asked for extra time to make phone calls and was asked to leave.(phone was not the main focus of this job, was not a call center). People say you can sue get a lawyer and that's the funniest joke in my life. I'm destined to get steam-rolled over and just take it. With my 7 days I would barely sleep. I would apply to and show up in person to as many possible employers as I could find. The only thing I can't do that fluent people can: putting on that fake affect and robotic verbiage to make a good impression and get the job. I've been less than part time at a job which promised me full time "in 3wks" almost one year ago. The full time positions opened up and 3 people who were not even certified to do the job were signed on full benefits from day 1. These kids did not have the benefit of the YEAR of UNPAID training I had within the institution. For me it is a stepping stone. Maybe for them it's their forever job but I'm stuck with them micromanaging me while I'm fighting with HR. It took 8mo to get an audience with the department that should have helped me on week 4 when it became clear my horrible boss decided to tell me they "never saw you as a candidate for full time". I use the phone daily. Now I have my ADA so I can say no when I'm having a tough day and these foolish kids are horsing around. I'm not included in the group chat. I miss a LOT of work related and work adjacent material because of it. I incur poor treatment all the time for being out of the loop or missing important messages that were not sent to me. I don't know if I would want to go to happy hour with these folks but it wouldn't matter if I did: they go around asking everyone out loud and just skip me so I don't have a chance to connect with them. (I could be wrong but it seems like maybe they are all untreated alcoholics and if I was fluent and did go out I might wish I hadn't!)