I'm 17 too and like you, I've never known anything else. I have accepted that it'll never go away though. My speech therapist told me that a long time ago. That doesn't mean I don't fear everything you do, and right now I can't imagine myself having a normal life either. But yeah we are who we are, and I'm just lucky to have a group of friends who accept me as who I am, and I hope you have friends like that too.