Worrying, first… Then, after I got beyond that… The realities that stuttering has had on the limited opportunities in my professional life. People might want to present to the stutterer that they are viewed and valued irrespective of their speech… But I have been passed over many, many times, for many different opportunities by “nice people” that create justifications why I am not a “good fit.” Several times I have heard their candid talk when they thought I wasn’t able to hear them… It was not very nice… And I learned the difference between the rhetoric of equality and disability and protected classes and the realities of way people (and employers) truly feel about us in “hot mike” moments. I am a 40+ year old, Native American, disabled combat veteran, with a PhD… I am a 4x protected class citizen. Thousands of job applications, 100s of interviews, I have not been fully employed since 2009.