People mention something similar a lot. Disclosing, *but without apology*, has many benefits, mostly to you. It tricks your brain into not hiding your stutter, which has the benefit of increasing fluency. It avoids confusion to your listener bc most ppl really do not know what’s going on when you have super long pauses. Other things to add - make normal eye contact (or look toward person, not down), or do a soft disclose by doing controlled, voluntary stutters.