postr/StutterNovember 26, 2019

What traits, habits or quirks do you see in stutterers/yourself?

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What traits, habits or quirks do you see in stutterers/yourself? I don't mean just "I have a hard time with H" (fuck every job ever that made me answer a phone and start with the word "Hello") I mean deep down, do you feel like a different minded person than others? Or do you see it in others? I found this list from the old internet https://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/Infostuttering/13observations.html and it got me thinking. Here's the list for easiness 1. We have difficulty in letting go, not just in our speech, but across the board...in what we feel and in what we're willing to risk. 2. We are not grounded. We don't have a strong sense of who we are, because we are overly concerned with other people's opinion of us. 3. We are overly concerned with pleasing others. We worry about what people think of our behavior...our thoughts...our wishes...our beliefs...in fact, everything concerning our personal identity and self-worth. 4. We have a narrow self-image. It does not encompass all of who we are. And we constantly try to squeeze ourselves into this narrow self-image. Not only is this self-image extremely confining...it is also very rigid. 5. We lack self-assertiveness. We see every self-assertive act as an aggressive act, and this helps to create a stressful world. Because we're not assertive, we see ourselves as without rights. So when we do feel ourselves on top of the world, we always see ourselves there at someone else's expense (because on our mountain top, there's always only room for one.) 6. We have a great deal of misinformation about what constitutes acceptable speaking behavior. It's okay for someone else to speak forcefully and dynamically, but when we speak with any aliveness in our voice, we see ourselves as coming off too strong, too overpowering and too visible. 7. Hand-in-hand with our fear of looking too powerful, we see ourselves as powerless. As victims. As helpless. 8. We see life as a performance. This is related to our need to please others. 9. Because we see life as a performance, we are afraid to make mistakes because of how we might be judged. 10. Because we're afraid to make mistakes, we're afraid of responsibility and making decisions. 11. Because we've run from ourselves, we have little self-knowledge. Consequently, we tend to obsess on what is visible -- our imperfect speech. And we tend to blame all our problems on it. 12. Because of everything previously mentioned, we see ourselves as basically different from other human beings. 13. Thus, it is not surprising that we've had few, if any, positive speaking experiences. I myself am definitely a bit if an extreme character. I've gotten to a speech point where I can "pass" probably 80% of the time. I still get hung up. I was encouraged very young by my grandma to never let anything stop my speaking. I point to a real turning point when I was about 19 when a friend of my brother (both about 27 at the time) made fun of my stuttering (t-t-t-today Jr.) and my brother flipped on him. The guy genuinely didn't know I stuttered and thought it was a one off goof that some people have. Ever since then I LOSE it when someone calls out my stuttering. I immediately ask if they would tease a blind person like that just did. We all know the laundry list of famous artists, actors, musicians, athletes and leaders who stutter. I do think stutterers develop unique skill sets because we do live in our own head growing up and learn to choose our battles maybe? Just something to talk about

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceIdentity & Disability

Subthemes

Avoidance & SubstitutionIdentity & Self-PerceptionAcceptance & PrideStigma & Bullying

Codes (2)

perceived_judgmentpropositionality