postr/StutterJune 17, 2019

Do You Get Angry When People React To Your Stutter?

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Content

Do You Get Angry When People React To Your Stutter? I've been stuttering for my whole life. It wasn't as bad when I was a kid (probably because I was more social as a kid and talked more). But as an adult, its now very bad because I'm not as social as before. And I have social anxiety. One thing that really upsets is when people become uncomfortable by my stutter. Most of the time they don't even know what's happening because my speech pattern has more suppression and blocks than repetitions. The classic stutter has repetitions and its more easily recognizable by the average person. The second they hear that classic kind of stutter, they know what it is. But when your stutter has blocks, it's harder for people to tell what's going on and it becomes even more awkward. And it looks really unnerving when your blocks are so bad that you move your entire body back and forth and start hyperventilating. People look at me weird. They become uncomfortable. Sometimes I freeze up when talking. And during that freezing up stage, the weird looks intensify.....they look at me like I'm mentally unstable person who's about to attack them or something. I once wanted to ask another stranger at a subway station for simple directions. She was already walking, but I started talking to her........and I stuttered while I talked.....and she just kept walking. I couldn't even finish what I wanted to say....she just continued walking away and looked at me like I was some kind of lunatic. See if I didn't have a stutter, I would have been able to quickly say what I needed to say and she would have replied to it. But I coudn't finish. It's little stuff like that that really gets to me....knowing that I can't have the same normal experiences as a person who didn't stutter. And having people react to it. I don't even care if people laugh at my stutter or make fun of me. People did that all the time when I was a kid, and it never got to me. The only thing that bothers me are reactions like the kind of described above. Where people treat you like some kind of a freak and are afraid of you. Does anyone else get upset by reactions like that? Stuff like that majorly depresses me.

Themes

Emotional ExperienceSocial & Relationships

Subthemes

Anxiety & Social JudgmentShame & EmbarrassmentListener Reactions

Codes (2)

perceived_judgmentsocial_pressure