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From: Jaime Hannan
Date: 05 Oct 2010
Time: 08:15:40 -0500
Remote Name: 74.83.213.115
Elissa, thank you for your post and for sharing your thoughts. I am sure that Scott will also respond to this post, but I wanted to share some thoughts as well. While I am not a person who stutters, I am extremely drawn to this population and am working to focus on working primarily with people who stutter. Your comments made me think of some of the thoughts I have had in the past when working with individuals who stutter. Some of my clients will talk about being bullied or being made fun of. They will tell me what people have said to them - even members of their own families. At first, I would find myself getting really upset...wanting to judge them for their comments, wondering how in the world they could say/do something like that. On a few occasions, I had to do everything I could to bite my tongue. However, one day when asking one of my clients "why she thought people bullied others," she replied "because they don't understand." It was a lightbulb moment for me because I realized that I was judging others at the same time that I was getting upset with others for judging people who stutter. Yes, sometimes people bully or tease or do things just to be mean, but other times (and more commonly, I like to think - especially in the case of family members), people do things because they want to help (or because they believe that they are helping). Stuttering is something that is just beginning to be talked about more openly - and it is also something that is misunderstood by a lot of people. I think that this is why talking about stuttering is the most important thing we can do - talking leads to understanding/knowledge...and knowledge leads to acceptance! While this is not exactly the same as the situation you commented on, I think it is difficult to judge or understand a situation without truly allowing ourselves to walk in the shoes of that person. While you may not view what Scott's mother did as "helping" him with his stuttering, it was what she thought at that moment was the best for him. Jaime.