My stuttering tale

I have been stuttering for my whole life, but I particularly became aware of it when I was 13. I tried to hide my stuttering by avoiding speaking situations. I also replaced words with easier ones (for me to speak). But as you can tell, that doesn’t really work out. As many other stutterers, there are times when I can speak pretty “fluently”, and at other times (particularly when I am nervous/anxious) I stutter very badly – literally in every word. So I thought that this is a psychological problem. Back in Bangladesh, I talked to psychologists, but I barely stuttered when talking to them. So they thought I would be okay. But only I know what happens when I have to talk in the class – even just to say a few sentences! After I moved to US, I came to know about National Stuttering association in USA. I went to their annual conference in 2013, and that’s the first time I met someone who stutters! This year (2015), I went through an intensive speech therapy workshop named “Successful Stuttering Management Workshop”. I am feeling much better about my speech after that. The takeaway from that workshop was: I stutter and I’ll always stutter, but I am not ashamed of it anymore. So now, when I need to talk, I don’t try to avoid it. I go to people, and tell them I am a stutter and then start talking. Trust me, people are friendly, and they are willing to give you extra time if you tell them upfront that you stutter. But they (understandably) get confused when you don’t let them know that you stutter and you start stuttering at the middle of conversation. Think about it this way: someone has a leg injury and can’t walk. You see and understand that, and give them extra time. But if he hides it in some way that it’s no longer clear that he is disabled, and tries to walk and fail, people would be confused and might even frown upon him. Same happens to us stutterers when we try to hide our stuttering!