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From: Carla
Date: 02 Oct 2009
Time: 05:01:53 -0500
Remote Name: 71.233.233.138
Albert, you correctly pointed out the discrepancy in the amount of attention and research dollars that go to the study of autism compared to stuttering. While I am familiar with the number 1 in 150 children have diagnoses of autism, I was not aware that 1 in 20 stutter. My last knowledge was that about 1% of the population stutter. While I have knowledge that more children ages 3-5 show signs of dysfluent speech, some of this is related to language development and eases after age 5, leaving about 1% of the population with the disability, last I knew. Is there new data on this? Regardless, you are correct in saying that there is not the same amount of research going into stuttering as there is in autism. Perhaps autism is more debilitating to society than stuttering, and people with autism cannot (are unable) really advocate for themselves, while PWS do have the ability to advocate, but for some reason, don’t. I am not agreeing or disagreeing with the degree of disability, just making some guesses about why this is the case. I do feel that there are many avenues for PWS, and you have shared with us an easy access to The Voice, for which I thank you, and will share with the people I know who stutter. Although I have never been to China, so I don’t know first hand what it may be like to be a PWS, I do think that there are many people in the USA who suffer in the same way. PWS do have a voice, and the people I know who use it are able to function much better than those who don’t. However, in defense of the individuals who choose not to use their voice, I realize it is not that easy, depending how they feel about their speech. We have much work to do. As a person who works with both stuttering and autism, there is teasing and bullying going on in the autism world as well, and no defense for the child when an adult is not around. Many more voices are needed to stop the hurt.