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From: Ken St. Louis
Date: 10/16/02
Time: 9:17:23 AM
Remote Name: 157.182.12.205
Gunars,
I don't know of any well-known instrument that deals directly with *verified* handicap, discrimination, and personal feeling issues with stuttering. Scott Yaruss and Bob Quesal's forthcoming OASES (Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering) questionnaire does get close to all the issue you raised. They are in the final stages of development of this instrument.
The Inventory of Life Perspectives and Stuttering, a short questionnaire I developed last year deals with overall perceived suffering and handicap and the perceived extent that stuttering has affected life satisfaction.
You bring up a very good point that could be leveled as criticism to any questionnaire data wherein respondents report what they *would* do/think/feel in various situations. Would they, in fact, do that? I am reminded of a little study I read many years ago in Psychology Today. People were stopped on the street and asked by one interviewer if the way people dress would affect them. Almost all of them answered "no." Right around the corner was a person (another interviewer in the study) looking for change to put into a parking meter who asked the unsuspecting respondent for a dime or quarter to put into the meter. One third of the time, the person was dressed very informally and appeared rather unkempt. One third of the time, the same person was dressed in a suit and tie. And one third of the time, he was dressed in a security guard uniform. You can guess what happened. The "guard" received the most dimes or quarters, followed second by the "businessman," followed last by the casual dresser. It goes to show that what people say or think they might or will do is not always what they actually do. The only way to know for sure is to follow people over time, as you suggest in two of your examples. The stories that people tell on STUTT-L provide meaningful glimses into the numerous possible explanations.
Yet, lots of people, including me, are involved in trying to get a better handle on such things as handicap, stigma, and discrimination. We use questionnaires to hopefully identify and quantify attitudes, thoughts, and (reported) behaviors. But you are right; we must not make the mistake of assuming that self-reports are completely valid.
Thanks for your interest.
Ken