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From: Ryan Pollard
Date: 20 Oct 2012
Time: 20:40:24 -0500
Remote Name: 69.116.220.90
You describe the apparent dichotomy very well, Cara. For some, embracing their disability can be wonderfully empowering, liberating, even cathartic, particularly for those who had historically been reluctant to accept it. Jill Douglass touches on this subject in her paper for this year’s conference. She talks about the concept of immersion as a “relative extremism of identity pride.” You should check it out if you’re interested. On the other hand, as I argue in my paper, for some clients the (often subconscious) reluctance to relinquish their familiar stuttering identity can sabotage their efforts to speak fluently using new skills learned in therapy. But that would only apply to someone who is trying to live in the world as a fluent speaker. Also, some clients are able to successfully integrate their stuttering into the totality of their self, shrinking its relative importance so it can exist peacefully alongside many other attributes that define them (Dr. Douglass calls this “identity synthesis”).