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From: Cathy Olish
Date: 02 Oct 2009
Time: 08:24:26 -0500
Remote Name: 136.2.1.153
Hello Pam. Thank you so much for your good thoughts! All of you, thank you so much for your encouragment! To answer your question on whether or not I may become more open about my stuttering I don't think so. If you were to ask me t his question ten years ago, I would never have imagined being okay talking about it with the few people I have or even allow a little stutter to happen here and there. As of where I am at right now, I don't see ever being open about my stuttering to everyone. It is a personality trait that is a part of me and like other traits we have, some things just don't change. I truly hope to be more okay with it and less ashamed as time goes on, but I feel I will always work hard to be as fluent as I can. True, there are no wrong or right answers. Many people who are not covert (Bernie - LOL) think that the only way to accept ourselves as PWS is to be open about it. That may work for some, but doesn't work for everyone. As long as we continue to do the things we want to do and don't let our stuttering get in the way, that's okay. It's an individual decision about how much we want to disclose about ourself in both stuttering and everything else. I have spent so much time debating this subject with people that anyone who mentions this theory to me, I realize that they may not totally get the covert theroy. Now, I wouldn't encourage anyone to hide their stuttering but I wouldn't tell them that being open about it is the only way to handle it. I would simply be there for them and support them with whatever they choose. Maybe along the way I will be tell more friends I stutter but the thought of that right now scares me to no avail!