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Not to get all earnest, but I want to do a thread on stuttering that maybe will be helpful for folks given current discourse. Caveat: I'm speaking from my own, non-expert experience. Other people who stutter might share some or none of these experiences or opinions. Ask us. /1
Stuttering isn't always consistent or predictable--mine waxes and wanes depending on context/environment, how much sleep or coffee I've had, general stress levels, what season it is, what color i'm wearing, whether i'm around my dogs, etc. etc. /2
At times, it can be difficult to get anything out; at other times, I can speak so fluidly that I worry people will think I'm not a real stutterer! /3
For me, it usually feels physiological--I know in my head what I'm trying to say, but can't get me body to produce the sounds. Sometimes I move my neck and face in ways to try to get words out. Sometimes I love my breathe. /4
Sometimes I speed up my speech because talking faster can help my run words together more fluently. Sometimes I have to pick other, less precise words that I can say instead of what I want to say (I almost always say "folks" and not "people" for this reason) /5
I hate going around and doing introductions because my name is very difficult for me to say. Sometimes I can practice saying words, putting emphasis in different places, and it helps. Sometimes it doesn't. /6
What I do not want is for people to assume I'm not intelligent, which is a very common assumption, or that I don't have a decent vocabulary, or that I "need to slow down" /7
For me, it's not a thought problem; I'm not thinking too fast for my mouth to catch up. Just stop with that nonsense. /8
I also don't like when people laugh. Sometimes I'll get caught on a word and it IS funny, and I will laugh at myself. Then you can laugh. Otherwise, deal. /9
I also don't like it when people finish my sentences. Don't presume you know what I'm going to say. Finishing my sentence takes the focus off what I'm trying to say and onto my speech. Don't do that (to me anyway). /10
When I am talking to you and start to stutter, I am anxious that my speech is going to become the focus rather than what I am trying to say. Don't change the focus or topic of conversation to my stuttering. If I wanted to talk about that, I'd bring it up /11
Unless I live with you or we're really close or I ask for help, don't finish my words for me. /12
Realize that things a non-stuttering person takes for granted can be really difficult for someone who stutters, things like: introducing themselves, speaking on a telephone, ordering at a restaurant, talking at meetings or on Zoom, or ... /13
...speaking under conditions with time constraints. I'm sorry--but no, I cannot do your fun "45 second ice breaker or flash presentation." /14
Lately, I find Zoom meetings difficult (but this is true for most meetings). If the convention is that people just jump in whenever, I am never going to speak at your meeting. If you want to make a meeting more accessible, there are things you can do /15
Ask people to raise their hands and speak in order. If you're on Zoom, PLEASE use the raised hand function (and also think about using the chat function). Don't interrupt people or let people be interrupted if you're leading a meeting. /16
If you're a professor or teacher, don't penalize students for not speaking fluently or "professionally." In college, I loved taking Spanish, but I stopped after a few years because a professor penalized me for oral disfluency, despite knowing I stutter /17
That's not cool. If you teach (and esp if you teach language courses), be mindful that some people don't and can't speak the way other people do. If your pedagogy can't accommodate that, then don't be a teacher. /18
If you're conducting interviews, be aware that what you might read as nervousness might be nerves (who isn't nervous) but might also be something else, like a stutter. Moving to virtual interviews in academic is the right thing to do for many reason, but just know that... /19
...for someone like me, who stutters, it makes doing well even more difficult. That doesn't me we should return to conference interviews, but you could be aware of that when interviewing someone. /20
Ok, so maybe you don't stutter and wonder how to interact with someone who stutters. Again, in my experience, focus on me and not my stutter. /21
Like most people with disability, I don't want to hear your advice on how to improve. Fuck off. I also don't want to hear about how you stuttered as a child and "grew out of it." Good for you. You aren't me. /22
My "speech therapy" in school was horrible and traumatizing in its own way. If you're was great and worked, wonderful. That's not me. And no, I don't need to try again. /23
What I need is for people to recognize difference in the world, to learn to deal with and respect it. If you have a question, ask. But ask at an appropriate time--send an email, slip a note. Don't interrupt a conversation about sometime else to ask. Do some research. GOOGLE. /24
Don't rely on narratives of "overcoming." Not everyone "overcomes" and not everyone is worried about or interested in "overcoming" a stutter. If it bugs you to listen to disfluent speech, then maybe you need to work on that. /25
Thank you for coming to my TedTwitter. I'd love for other people who stutter as adults to chime in on what they agree with or have different perspectives about -- we're all different, so I'm always learning.
