postr/StutterJanuary 18, 2020

Should we stop calling our condition as stuttering?

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Content

Should we stop calling our condition as stuttering? When we tell ourselves "Don't think about X" our mind actually thinks about X even more. For example, sports athletes who think a lot about not failing perform worse than when they don't think anything. People who ruminate obsessively get told by psychiatrists "Don't tell yourself not to think about the intrusive thought, it makes the situation worse; instead divert your attention to another thought or action". Coming back to stuttering, does it help to have words like *stutter* or a *speech block*? Wouldn't it be better if we reframe our condition to be *speech dysfluency*? We just happen to be less fluent than the general populace, but sometimes and in some conditions, our fluency is just as good. The focus here is on fluency and not stutter, and that could make a whole lot of difference. For example, by focusing on fluency, you'd pay more attention to those periods when you're very fluent compared to the periods when you stutter badly. And then you could think about how to make those fluent periods more long-lasting and applicable to more situations. What's your opinion on this?

Themes

Identity & Disability

Subthemes

Medicalization / Neurodiversity