We’ve all experienced mocking and/or being laughed at. It hurts deeply. My best friend from high school has Cerebral Palsy and she has been mocked and ignored, she has a PhD in special education. We were best friends because we protected one another, and understood what the other was going through. We were known as the ‘gruesome twosome’ in high school, because we got even with our mockers; letting air out of their tires, putting honey on their chairs, koolade in shower heads and much more. We were part of the ‘geek squad’ in high school… kids with all A’s and no social life—except with one another. Fast forward to 20 year reunion… the geek squad blossomed. We were all married to other successful geeks, owned big-ass houses, had multiple graduate degrees, and five figure incomes. Yes, it’s shallow but revenge is sweet. I still stutter… sometimes controlled like Mr Biden, sometimes not. It is what it is. Don’t let stuttering define you are at the core of your being. You’re so much more than that. My mom and dad used to tell me to smile because it’s harder to stutter when you’re smiling. Not sure if it’s true, but it did work much of the time. I guess the secret is to find your self-worth in other ways. Be the best you can be at what you do best. For me it was teaching. I lectured, I created award winning lesson plans, was passionate about helping my students learn and made sure all students found their passion and pursued it. I’ve met stutterers from all over the world and I found that the stutterers who found passion in either their work or hobbies—or both, didn’t give a rats ass about their stuttering. Their passion defined them, not their speech.