Absolutely, it’s a huge part of me. I’m not saying I embrace it fully and that it does not frustrate me, but only reason it frustrates me is because a lot of people people are unaware and unaccepting, and some are mean enough to look down upon me or/and make fun of me, finish my sentences, and think less of me. Sometimes I wonder if scientists/medical professionals found a cure, would I take it? At days when I’m too tired of having to face up a world where you are expected to speak in a certain way and in a particular pace and where difference is not another way of life/living but a deficit, I’d say yes, I want to the cure. However most of the time, it’s a no, I don’t want to overcome my stutter (I mean not that I can. I tried!). I’m not only my stutter and I’m not only a stutterer, but stuttering can also be me; it’s a disability (disability as a social construct, meaning it’s something that’s disabling me because I’m in a society that has a rigid understandings of what’s normal and abnormal, hence, my sentences are completed, people are impatient, I may be rejected by some, I may lose a job because of it, I may not be allowed to take part in discussions, I may not be hired, I may not be allowed to have a particular career, I may lose grades as a student, I may not be promoted..etc) and disability is an identity marker. By the way, I understand not all stutterers feel comfortable identifying as disabled, it’s really just a personal choice, but I’d like them to understand that there’s no such thing as ‘real/severe disabilities’ and mild disabilities. Disability is not a hierarchy, it’s a spectrum, and it’s also not a slur. This toxic and ableist (discrimination against people with disabilities) environment needs to change. We don’t all have to be the same because we were never born the same and were never meant to be the same. I wouldn’t know who I would be if I didn’t stutter. It informs my every experience and memory, and therefore, how I see and relate to the world.