Episode 269 features Brittney O’Neal who hails from Sacramento, California. Brittney is busy with a wife and almost 3 year old daughter and her career. Brittney is a Certified Prosthetist/Orthotist and is preparing to soon open her own clinic.

In her work, Brittney makes artificial limbs and custom braces. She combines her lifelong passion for building things and helping people. 

She stuttered covertly for a long and did not meet another person who stuttered until she was 25 years old. Because she felt alone with her disability, she looked up to those with visible, physical disabilities.

Brittney had plans to enter the Marine Corps and during basic training was told she needed to “fix” herself and she entered into speech therapy for the first time ever. She enrolled into the two-week intensive therapy offered at AIS. She was expecting to learn fluency enhancing strategies and found instead it was all about acceptance. She decided against enrolling in the Marine Corps, as acceptance of stuttering and letting it out opened new doors for her and she couldn’t close that door.

She attended her NSA conference this year. She felt is was so freeing, and she was so happy that she gave herself that time and space. 

Listen in to this great conversation and learn how Brittney wants to be a good role model for her daughter.