Reflections Of Us
Posted on: September 2, 2014
What do you think of this? Being around other people who stutter is like seeing a reflection of our self. We see ourselves in other people who stutter.
Maybe when you are around other people who stutter, you think to yourself, “oh, that’s how I sound.” Maybe you’re OK with that. Maybe you are not.
Maybe it makes us feel vulnerable when we’re around other people who stutter.
Other people may remind of us ourselves, both the parts we love and the parts we don’t love quite as much.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Make Room For The Stuttering 
November 3, 2014 at 5:23 PM
Hi Pam, Suzanne Tubman here! I haven’t checked out your page in a good while, I’ve been so busy with my babies. I was actually getting excited about seeing all the new articles and videos you’ve posted. You’re still writing some amazing stuff, I really enjoy reading it all!
I used to really not like hearing other people who stuttered on tv especially if someone was with me, I felt embarrassed and upset by the person stammering and ashamed of myself and them – even though it was probably unlikely the actor had a stammer in real life. I still feel a bit this way unfortunately even after all the work I’ve done with changing my views on my stammer (being ok with stammering and not wanting to find a cure). I think its maybe because generally stammerers are portrayed on tv as weak willed, vulnerable or psychotic or stupid, its just awful and drastically needs to change. I really don’t mind meeting other stammerers in my day to day life, in fact I feel a real affinity with them and I really want to talk to them! I know though that stammerers can be notoriously closeted though and there’s a chance they won’t want to talk about their stammers and that’s fair enough too, I just can’t stop talking about my stammer once I get started!
I think if we are really ok with ourselves we would enjoy and even welcome hearing other stammerers because we know and they know exactly what its like, all those feelings and emotions, sadness, anger, frustration, disappointment, embarrassment. It’s great to be able to connect with other stammerers and realise we’re never really alone, we just think we are.