The Gift of Stuttering
It’s cliché among the stuttering self-help community to say that stuttering is a gift. Despite turning stuttering into a huge positive in my life, I never really considered it a gift. If it was a gift at all, it was an unwanted gift that I was forced to open and accept. A couple months ago, I attended a one day workshop sponsored by the New York City NSA chapters. Chris Constantino and Emma Alpern posed this question: Is our pride reflective of unsatisfactory therapy or is there something special about stuttering? Here’s what they said: Stuttering gives us access to experiences that are not available to fluent speakers. The vulnerability of stuttering allows for greater intimacy than fluent speech. It allows us to relate to people in unique ways . We have an increased likelihood of raw moments. These are the moments that separate the monotony of daily life. These moments add meaning and texture to our lives. We find excitement in the unpredictable. We have a richness of e