Maddie Brown
GSW 1110
Jay Jones
October 14, 2015
To Stutter or Not to Stutter
“I noticed that there are no B batteries. I think that’s to avoid confusion, cause if there were, you wouldn’t know if someone was stuttering. ‘Yes, hello I’d like some b-batteries.’ ‘What kind?’ ‘B-batteries.’ ‘What kind?’ ‘B-batteries!’ and D-batteries that’s hard for foreigners. ‘Yes, I would like de batteries.’”
–Demetri Martin
In the United States, 1% of the adult population stutters. That’s about three million people, and I am one of them. Some scientists have concluded that there is no way to completely cure this neurological disorder. The National Stuttering Association’s motto is “We are the cure”. They describe this as a way of comforting people by saying “it’s okay to stutter” but they also offer resources towards finding medical cures. It becomes confusing to some because “We are the cure” can have completely different concepts. Some people in this association agree that either stuttering should be considered as another way of speaking or it should be cured in some magical way. Stuttering should be accepted as a part of the English language.
There are three general types of stuttering. There are developmental stutters, which is the most common of the three. The developmental stutters begin as a child and typically resolve as they develop. There’s also neurogenic stuttering and psychogenic stuttering. Neurogenic stuttering is “caused by signal abnormalities between the brain and nerves/muscles” (Stuttering 2012). Psychogenic stuttering “originates in the part of the brain that governs thinking and reasoning” (Stuttering 2012). Once these disabilities develop in the early years of a child’s life, the stuttering sticks around for a few years even if the child is being treated. 95% of the children see the stuttering completely diminish once they get to be about 5. The other 5% of children will have this disability for life. No matter how much treatment they goes through, the stuttering will never fully be cured in that 5% currently. We don’t have specific data or lab work stating that that scientists have found the cure just yet. It could happen, it just hasn’t happened yet. I have a developmental stutter. Ever since I was 10, I’ve had a lot of trouble pronouncing words that start with b, j, m, n, r, and w. I’ve never wanted professional help because I don’t believe that stuttering should be considered as a disorder. Going against my morality, an article written by Ryan Whirty, a freelance journalist, describes how he copes with his developmental stutter. Contrary to my opinion, Whirty seeked out help from a speech pathologist. Throughout high school, he practiced all of his exercises. Once he got to college, he stopped his practices and his stutter instantly came back. With all of the money that his parents spent, it was used on practically nothing. I understand why people want to go to clinicians and speech pathologists to help calm the stutter because it can be very embarrassing. Freshman year in high school I had to give a five minute speech on the book, Animal Farm. Since I had only had my stutter for a few years, I had no idea how to control it. During the speech, I completely froze for a good minute. I couldn’t say anything: I was so embarrassed at myself. Although I don’t reach out to a speech therapist, I still practice controlling my stutter.
I completely understand where Ryan Whirty is coming from. I just don’t agree that people should have to go to a specialist in order to give in to the stereotype that people should only speak one way. As stated before, stuttering should be considered as another way of speaking along with the normal way of speaking. Treating three million people would take a lot of hard work and determination between stutterer and mentor because trying to fix the problem can be tedious. Nobody can pinpoint the reason why some people stutter and others don’t. It is different for everybody who has it. Also, the stutter will never completely fade away.
Coming from experience, “Covert stutterers’ often rely on a set of avoidant behaviors to keep their stuttering hidden from view” (Learning to Love to Stutter). Because of our stutter, we tend to see a gradual decline in the amount of words spoken per day. For example, I rarely talked in middle school because I thought somebody would make fun of me. So, I hid my stutter, and it was absolutely terrible. In another article, Baltimore City Commissioner of Health, Leana Wen states “The moment I try to hide my stutter, is the moment I feel shame about who I am… It is a core part of my identity to be a person who stutters”. This neurological disorder shouldn’t have to be something that needs to be hidden, it should be embraced. Also, once you get used to stuttering for a long period of time, once you don’t stutter it feels wrong. Although I do agree with Wen in her statement about dealing with her identity as a stutterer, people have to realize that identity isn’t fixed. People’s identities change every minute of every day. Although she can’t just snap her fingers and tell herself that she doesn’t stutter anymore, she can start to work with professionals in fields of speech pathology specializing in stuttering. This can expand her mind to a larger variety of choices of “treatment” options (I put the treatment in quotations because there isn’t quite a cure just yet) and keep her identity fluctuating like normal. In the same article, Peter Reitzes tells the NSA that “I tried so long to be happy without stuttering, but it didn’t work”. I’ve tried to become comfortable with hiding my stutter but it is absolutely time-consuming and not at all worth the work. I, for one, did not go to specialists, but I accept the fact that I have options.
The one thing that ticks me off the most is that people with stutters have a hard time finding work. They’re scared of talking and messing it up in front of their potential new boss, and they get turned down because they don’t happen to speak the way the employer likes. Kenny Koroll was interviewed by the NSA and had shared a story that hit home. He said that “when an interview told [me] that, because of [my] stutter, he couldn’t hire [me]. I sank into depression, eventually ending up in a hospital”. All because the potential employer didn’t care for Koroll’s stutter, he came down with severe depression. To me, that’s insanely unfair. A similar thing happened to me. I was interviewed for a job at a deli in a state park. Of course when I met the man, I stuttered more than normal because I was nervous. I didn’t get a call back and never heard from him again. It really becomes hard for stutterers to have the will to keep talking like nothing ever happened.
Stuttering is thought to be an alien language that most people don’t seem to understand the concept of it. Compared to stuttering, sign language is also an alien language that many of us are not used to using. That doesn’t seem to be the problem anymore due to cochlear implants. When people are born deaf or become deaf, they learn sign language to convey speech to others. These cochlear implants override the purpose of sign language. Gary Malkowski, member of Ontario legislature, questions “Do deaf children need a medical solution… why can’t we accept them as they are?” (Cochlear Implants: Miracle… 1994). This loops right back towards the stuttering debate and whether or not people can accept the stuttering as another language. I read up some more on cochlear implants and found out that if children who decided to get these implants, the Canadian Association of the Deaf (CAD) claims “the devices permanently damage…the inner ear, leaving implanted children unable to benefit from future developments in technology” (Cochlear Implants: Miracle… 1994). Given this data, these children no longer have use of sign language and they aren’t able to advance technologically with their CI’s (cochlear implants). The deaf community worries that these CI’s will eventually wipe out the entire language of signing because there will be no need for it. Relating this back to stuttering, if we somehow find a cure that completely rids the disorder, the language would be dead.
Letting the deaf be deaf and letting the stutterers be stutterers gives us another two extra languages. Now of course we can’t expect everyone to comply and have complete tolerance over the barriers, that’s completely unrealistic. People will complain that the deaf aren’t using the technology that the world is capable of using. People will find a way to “cure” stuttering even though others just want to embrace what they have. Although there’s a slim chance of full tolerance, it’s very unrealistic that the entire world will comply.
Stuttering is a neurological disorder but that doesn’t mean that we have to treat it like one. It can be fully tolerated, somewhat compliant, or not at all accepted. Any which way you seem to lean towards, try a little harder to accept it. There can be ways you can start to tolerate an annoying friend who happens to stutter:
- Don’t make fun of them if they mess up. It hurt’s their self-esteem.
- Ignore it as much as possible and let them finish whatever they are trying to say.
- Lastly, make the friendship count because it means a lot to them that you are able to still be friends with them even with a speech disorder.
Works Cited
“Quotes About Stuttering (14 Quotes).” Stuttering. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.
“Stuttering.” Healthline. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Signet Classics, 1996. Print.
Alpern, Emma. “Learning to Love to Stutter.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 25 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.
Bodenner, Jillian KumagaiChris. “Would You Take a Magic Pill to Cure Your Stutter?” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 19 Oct. 2015. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.
Whirty, Ryan. “Words Fail Me.” Indianapolis Monthly 26.10 (2003): 90. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
Wigod, Rebecca. “Cochlear implants: ‘miracle’ or a false hope for the deaf?: Controversey surrounds device that has helped some, but its long-term effects remain in doubt.” The Vancouver Sun. CanWest Interactive, 24 Jun. 1994. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.