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From: Kerri Fusco
Date: 10/19/03
Time: 8:47:36 AM
Remote Name: 141.150.110.47
Dr. Schwartz:
Thank you for your interesting and wonderfully written paper. I enjoyed reading about the project you assign to your class and its outcome. It reminded me of a similar project I completed when taking a deaf and hard-of-hearing class, churning up memories of how I was treated when acting deaf in public. I am currently a speech-language pathologist in the public schools.
I would like to simply add a "real life" example to your findings that I witnessed in a clothing store in an extremely busy mall in north Jersey. The line to purchase items was very long and a customer had approached the cashier to ask a question (thus cutting to the front of the line). This customer happened to have a stuttering disorder and took a long time to formulate her question. I observed a "normally" impatient crowd (the malls in north Jersey are not always the most friendly places on a Saturday - people are in such a hurry) react with extreme patience and as as though this customer's speech was no different than anyone elses in the store. I was happy to observe this positive reaction and would have normally paid for my item and been on my way; however, after reading your paper, I decided to commend the salespeople and cashier (obviously out of the customer's earshot) and provide them with some information on stuttering.
Thank you again for sharing your project with everyone involved in the conference - it has made me more aware of listener's reactions to stuttering individuals and more pro-active when confronted with situations such as the one above. It is nice to know that "positive reactions" are not only observed in Illinois.
Sincerely - Kerri Fusco