Covert Stuttering: Coming Out Of The Closet

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Re: Coming out

From: Jill Douglass
Date: 04 Oct 2012
Time: 16:06:43 -0500
Remote Name: 130.123.104.22

Comments

Hi Francisco, thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I agree it does seem that being covert takes a mental and physical toll on an individual. From what I have seen, individuals cope differently and have different thresholds for that exhaustion. Great question in regards to coming out alleviating the pressures on the fluency system and increasing fluent speech production. There is no published research to answer your question. I can respond solely based on my personal observations and interactions with individuals who have come out of the closet. A PWSC is able to allow only minimal and fleeting (if any) moments of stuttering to happen with the use of strategies such as word switching, avoidance of situations, avoidance of speaking, gestures, strategically placed “habits”, etc. When a PWSC has gone through the process of coming out, decreased their strategies, says what they want to say when they want to say it and has assimilated to being a person who stutters, audible moments of stuttering do happen. In essence, this is success. The disfluencies seem to fluctuate throughout and after the process, similar to overtly stuttering. I am unsure of the long term post-coming fluency state. Again, this is based on what I have personally encountered when talking with people who consider themselves covert. –Jill


Last changed: 10/22/12