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From: J Scott Yaruss
Date: 16 Oct 2009
Time: 17:14:08 -0500
Remote Name: 74.109.245.93
Hi Dan -- It sure would be wonderful if the world were more educated about stuttering - more accepting, more understanding, more patient, and just plain less ignorant. There are a lot of good people working hard to make that happen, though education and outreach and experiences like this forum. Unfortunately, I don't think it would reduce the number of people who stutter, though, because stuttering is caused by genetic and neurological factors, not by the way people are treated. True, many people who stutter are treated badly, but this does not create the stuttering. (It can take existing stuttering and make it worse, but it doesn't create it in the first place...) That said, those people who stutter who would be living in this better world would probably be less negatively affected by their stuttering -- they'd have an easier time communicating with other people because those others wouldn't come with misconceptions and misinformation about stuttering... SO, "stuttering" would be easier, but there would still be "stuttering." We can still work for that world, though. The benefits would be real, even if it wouldn't eliminate the disorder entirely... There is much more to say on the topic (e.g., how for a long time much of our field believed that stuttering WAS caused by the negative reactions of others...though today the majority of the field favors other explanations), and others may chime in as well...