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Reclaiming the Dysfluent Disabled Voice

10/22/2016

8 Comments

 
Picture
Source: Disability Network

Within stuttering communities, the discussion of whether stuttering should be considered a disability is complex. Some stutterers identify as disabled, and some do not. We at Did I Stutter understand dysfluency through the social model of disability, and identify ourselves as disabled. Conversely, the self-help movement is based on a medical model of stuttering and its followers largely reject the idea that stuttering is a disability. Identifying as disabled is a personal decision that should be the right of all stutterers. However, the portrayal of disability in self-help spaces makes clear the influence that speech pathology has on the self-concept of stutterers.

Some of the most blatantly ableist language I’ve ever heard has been in the context of stuttering self-help groups. When asked if they think stuttering is a disability, stutterers cringe and list off stereotypical characteristics of disabled people as evidence of a standard that they don’t meet. Disabled people, I’ve been told, are helpless. They’re impaired, incapable, and dependent on others. To be disabled is to inhabit a body that is undeniably broken, mangled, and crippled. To be disabled is to give up. Stutterers tell me that they’re not disabled because they can overcome their dysfluency. They can use speech tools and substitutions to pass as fluent. They use person-first language to assert that they are whole, un-afflicted persons when removed from their speech.

In these interactions, I see the deceptive power of speech pathology. SLPs push the narrative that a person can always be brought closer to fluency through therapy. As long as there’s some hope of measured improvement, or recovery, or a cure, to identify as dysfluent is to reject standard of fluency. To call oneself disabled is framed as a choice, and becoming fluent is framed as its alternative.

I understand the appeal of choosing to blend in. Before my physical disability progressed to its current state I had the privilege of invisibility. By staying silent and slipping into the back of the classroom, I could choose to hide those aspects of my identity. Nobody had to know about my illness or my dysfluency unless I decided to let them in. Now that I use a wheelchair full-time, disability is the first thing I telegraph to everyone I meet. I no longer have the freedom to slip my cane into my bag when I feel unsafe or just don’t want to be stared at.

Regardless of the times I wish for invisibility to avoid stress, I’m not at all ashamed to call myself disabled. I am proud of my voice and my body. I am proud of the difference and the community it has brought me, the history I speak with every repetition. When stutterers say their speech isn’t a disability because they haven’t let it define their lives, I understand. And I also think about the first time I called myself a stutterer – how it changed nothing about the sound of my voice, but suddenly I’d stopped fighting to be someone I wasn’t. For the first time, I could imagine someday liking the way I speak.

Today is International Stuttering Awareness Day. Today is a celebration of dysfluent voices, and the power that identity endows. Today, I like the way I speak. 

-
Erin

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Thanks!

10/24/2015

0 Comments

 
A big thanks to everyone who participated in #SpeechDiscriminationIs to raise awareness of speech discrimination! Check out some of the posts on our tumblr and twitter. My personal reflection on the day is posted here.

If you didn’t get a chance to post your story of speech discrimination yesterday, feel free to join in now on whatever social media you use, or in the comments below.
​
-Josh
0 Comments

International Stuttering Awareness Day

10/21/2015

1 Comment

 
​October 22 is International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD). Every year this day brings a lot of press to the topic of stuttering, though what it is asking the world to be aware of is often left vague and open to interpretation. It can be used to remind people that stuttering exists, what stuttering is (and isn’t), or how to interact more respectfully with people who stutter.

This year, we’d like to use ISAD to raise awareness about Speech Discrimination.

Anyone with a stutter, speech impediment, or communicative disability has experienced discrimination because of their speech. Whether you have been cut off or ignored in conversation, not offered accommodations in your school or workplace, or denied jobs, education, promotions, or leadership roles because of your voice, speech discrimination is an insidious and ever-present aspect of living with a communicative disability. It is harmful, it is ableist, and it is wrong.

What’s more, many of those without disabled speech don’t even know that speech discrimination happens, or that they can be responsible for it.

Let’s change this.

We invite stutterers and others with communicative disabilities to join us on October 22 with the hashtag #SpeechDiscriminationIs

Share your stories of how you have been discriminated against because of your voice. Point out the ableist standards, policies, and practices in your workplace or social circle. Let’s tell our twitter followers and facebook friends in no uncertain terms what Speech Discrimination Is, and let’s make sure they understand that it is absolutely not okay.
 
Here’s ten to get things started:
​
#SpeechDiscriminationIs not giving me jobs where I’ll have to speak to customers because you think my voice will embarrass you.
#SpeechDiscriminationIs the media only including characters who speak like me if they’re portrayed as quiet and scared.
#SpeechDiscriminationIs the teacher who asked me to sit down a third of the way through my presentation because my time was up.
#SpeechDiscriminationIs the coworker who asked me to repeat myself four times because he was too lazy to try to pay attention.
#SpeechDiscriminationIs the ADA making workplace discrimination illegal but only enforceable by complicated and expensive legal action.
#SpeechDiscriminationIs complimenting me on how much “better” I sound on days I stutter less, as though my normal voice isn’t good enough
#SpeechDiscriminationIs asking my partner to speak for me.
#SpeechDiscriminationIs why I spent years too scared to raise my hand in class.
#SpeechDiscriminationIs assuming that your way of speaking is inherently better or more desirable than mine.
#SpeechDiscriminationIs telling me that I couldn’t possibly love my voice the way it is.
1 Comment

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