Stuttering's a disability? Why, because we can't communicate as quickly
as fluent speakers? Does that mean I also have a disability because I
can't fix a car engine, repair a computer, have great difficulty
learning Greek, can't get a game as catcher for the New York Mets? We
all have different talents and just because I'm never going to get up on
a stage and give a heart wrenching version of Hamlet's soliloquy does
not mean I'm disabled.
Of course, we could all choose to feel disabled because we stutter but
that's a totally different thing.
From memory you were thinking of choosing / changing your career choice
so as to take into account your stutter and say below that stuttering's
"ability to wreak havoc in a person's life is quite strong, and people
don't understand just how much it affects a person's spirit and
existence."
Our stutter can wreak havoc if we allow it to but not if we come to
terms with the fact we stutter and live our lives accordingly. You may
perceive your stutter forces you "to look for little things to be
grateful for to endure through the days" but surely that's putting all
your focus on fluent speech and the ability to communicate like 99% of
the population, rather than viewing your speech difficulty as nothing
more than an annoyance.
Imagine for a minute what it was like forty years ago when there were no
computers, no e-mails, no Internet to look up information etc.
Everything then was done by phone or face to face interaction. I
remember how hard to was and can therefore empathise with your feelings
but looking back my attitude towards my stutter was wrong, not the
people around me, not the fact that every other word was a block.
Trust me on this, you will reach a point in your life when you focus on
the bigger picture, find a rewarding career, meet a man who loves you
for who you are, not for how you speak etc.
Stuttering is a challenge sure - and, who knows, perhaps more so in the
fast communication world we all live in today - but if we didn't have
challenges in our lives then why live at all?
I'd say someone like Christoper Reeve was disabled but would never,
ever, call myself or any stutterer disabled. We have unique challenges,
yes, but nothing that we can't overcome and in doing so we become better
all round people. (Having said that, I would agree that most fluent
speakers do not realise what we go through to speak but then, why should
they? Do we know, for example, what a paraplegic really goes through,
the difficulty they have just to wash, dress and get out of the house
each morning?)
You will get there, just give it time and try to enjoy life to the full.
