Ever have someone give you a look that says, “Do they know what they are talking about” or “What is wrong with them”? If you answered no, good for you, keep thinking that. For the other 99.9% of you who are honest, we can move forward.
Since you know the feeling, try adding a stutter into that equation and then add another variable, this happens on a daily basis. Now how do you feel? I’ll tell you, you are thinking, “I wake up every day and never thought about how easy speaking is”. Stuttering is known, but by no means shares any form of media coverage like other more well-known and deadly diseases. However, this is not to say that stuttering is not deadly. This is not to make you feel bad for anyone with a stutter, nor is it to say that our situation is unlivable, but it is to bring awareness to a topic that most people wouldn’t think twice about.
Most people wake up and within two hours of being up they have spoken to at least 1-3 dozen people and that is normal. In the life of someone of stutters, it would be great to avoid that. Obviously, different people have different levels of severity, for myself; I could manage that, sure. Others, I know for a fact it would be more than overwhelming.
I decided to start bringing awareness to this, as it not only affects me on a daily basis but so many others. To this point in my life, I have only met one of two people that have a stutter, but I recently joined a Facebook group for people who stutter and it was like a family away from family. Except I found a great deal of sadness when viewing the group most times because all I heard was how bad some of these people felt and I could relate.
Stuttering is not cancer; no one is comparing it to that. However, with cancer, you hear them working on treatments every day, whereas stuttering you do not. Some might say stuttering never killed anybody, you are wrong! Stuttering has led to the depression, bullying, and death of many people but is sadly something that you won’t hear much about.
So the next time you meet someone with a stutter or think that you are having a hard time giving a presentation (etc.), stop and think about this. If you feel so compelled, go online and search for some videos and you will see that speaking every day is taken for granted by so many. Again, this is not intended to make anyone feel sorry for people who have a stutter but to bring awareness to it and have others treat them with the same respect.
This post is the first of many to come but is merely here to serve as an introduction to stuttering and how it affects people on a general basis.