commentr/StutterJanuary 6, 2023

Content

I'm going to join this opinion based on my personal experience. I was also against even mentioning that I'm stuttering to somebody else, but after talking with others in our local self help group and with my speech therapist, and trying it out, I can confirm that it might help ease the pressure on you. For me there's this feeling and shame that I have to hide my stuttering and trying to hide it in a high stress situation adds a great amount of extra stress to it. But it's not like I could hide my stuttering, at least if I mention it they know what's happening and I'm not having some kind of seizure or something. So at the start of important conversations like that I try to always mention that I'm stuttering at the beginning. Just a simple sentence like "Yeah when I'm nervous I might start stuttering." or "I sometimes stutter, feel free to ask me to repeat if something I said was hard to understand.". They then just nod or say something like yeah no problem just go on, and nobody ever mentions it again. I also never felt that they would feel sorry for me or pity me. I also put it in my CV, the very last section of it is titled "Miscellaneous" or something like that and contains only a single sentence which could be translated like "I'm stuttering, but this has never hindered me in achieving my goals and completing my tasks or fulfilling my duties.". At first, I was really against doing this but then somebody said something like "What if a company won't invite you to an interview because of this? Do you really want to work at a company that wouldn't invite you to an interview if they knew you're stuttering?" and after thinking about this I was like yeah I definitely wouldn't want to work at such a company. I worked very hard from school until my masters degree, I also do so in my job. They should hire me because of this. But yeah, I hope it helps something, stay strong and keep on going.

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceCoping & AdvocacyIdentity & DisabilitySchool & WorkSocial & Relationships

Subthemes

Avoidance & SubstitutionHiding & ConcealmentSelf-Advocacy & BoundariesAuthenticity vs. MaskingEmployment & CareerDisclosure & Telling Others