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From: Yana Fasulo
Date: 21 Oct 2009
Time: 22:50:09 -0500
Remote Name: 173.68.233.217
Hi Cathy, I would like to start out by thanking you for sharing your story. There are still too many people who believe that stuttering is characterized only by its overt form. Your story helps shed light on the fact that stuttering is much more than a just a fluency disorder. My name is Yana Fasulo and I am a Speech and Language graduate student at New York University. You sated that you have been a covert stutterer for most of your life. When did you begin to stutter and how soon after did you develop these negative feeling about your disfluency? What do you think caused you to hide your stuttering? Were you ever teased or encountered any negative reactions? Furthermore, did/does your family know that you stutter? If so, what was their reaction? Lastly, did you ever receive therapy? I recently read an article that was published in last year’s conference about awareness. I’m not sure if you read it, but it’s titled “Do We Spend Too Much Time Talking To Ourselves?” The article pointed out an interesting fact, “Most stuttering associations around the world say their mission is to create a world which understands stuttering. Yet, many of their members may be doing their best to avoid being seen to be stuttering, particularly in public.” I was just wondering what your view concerning awareness is? What do you think is to blame for the misunderstanding and prejudice of PWS? This may be a personal question, but do you feel that the negative feelings PWS associate with their own disfluency facilitate or impact the negativity associated with stuttering in the minds of fluent speakers? Better yet, do you think that if PWS were more opened about their stuttering –by not hiding it- it would force or reinforce a certain sense of acceptance? I’m sorry for bombarding you with so many questions, it’s just that I am very passionate about this topic =)