Stuttering has constantly been linked to incompetence. Fluent people stutter when they are under stress and pressure. A strong person leads from the front. A weak person stutters when asked a question. In Britain I do not see much of this mocking. Perhaps on a night out a drunk might have something to say. Beyond that I am largely unaffected. In America I see a lot on the right bang on about Bidens stutter. I have Indian colleagues who give others no time at all to speak and talk over you if you let them. I have been told a stutter is a thing of shame from an Indian colleague. HR enjoyed dealing with that. As others have said I think stuttering is poorly understood in general. I think a lot of stutterers make it harder by becoming a bit weird due to all the knock backs and trials they face. This can lead to more knock backs. I would challenge some stutterers to check themselves and ask if they actually seeing this themselves. You do not know what others are thinking. That smirk or awkward smile you see is often nothing. It is the reaction of someone unexpectedly stuttering in front of them. Often it carries no judgement. When I left school I felt like I was still being bullied but introspection showed that most people had matured and moved on. Most people don’t care and just want to get on with their day.