Often when talking and stuttering to people, they lose eye contact, look embarrassed, and not seldom they seem quite unable to understand what is being said even if it is spoken fluently. Other stutterers have reported similar experiences.
Why are we stigmatized because we stutter? In fact, we are stigmatized! Many researchers confirm that, some of them are: Columbus (1997); Rice (1995); and The Stuttering Information Center of Denmark in its 1996 reference on which this paper is based. Woods (1978) even suggests that the Stigma is shaping the stutterer. However, many of the studies on this topic don't address the level of knowledge on stuttering in the interlocutor, which may be an interesting variable. The Stuttering Information Center of Denmark in a study found some interesting differences between the attitudes of employers ignorant of stuttering and stutterers, and attitudes among employers familiar with stutterers having stutterers as employees. The latter category of employers are in other words less apt to discriminate against stutterers than are the employers ignorant of stuttering.
The study on Stuttering and the Labor Market was carried out at The
Stuttering Information Center of Denmark (1996). The purpose of the study was to investigate employers' attitudes towards people who stutter (PWS), and to investigate experiences made by PWS with respect to the labour market. The information was gathered in order to convey this information to relevant parties such as employers, trade unions, vocational counselers etc. about the results of the enquiry, thus, hopefully, making job opportunities for stutterers better.
Questionnaires were returned from 721 employers and 85 PWS. Fur-ther selected for an interview were 16 employers, 4 of whom stuttered, and 11 PWS.
The results showed, in line with Rice and Kroll (1995) and Hurst and Cooper (1983), that stutterers were in fact discriminated against.
11 percent of the employers reported having one or more PWS as employees, these employers were more positive toward employing a PWS than were those employers who had no experience with PWS as employees.
Another interesting by-product of the study were some of the comments obtained in the interviews. These comments often revealed interesting attitudes and beliefs on stuttering. This made me think of what might be the nature and origin of the discrimination.
Existing reasearch on stuttering and its consequences in terms of
stigmatization, discrimination, stereotyping, as well as self-imposed
restrictions is by and large based on Goffmans work, in his book "Stigma" (1975). Goffman is a sociologist and uses a sociological paradigm in his research.
Later research on stuttering in relation to communication and interpersonal relationships is based on this sociological paradigm too, eg. Rice (undated); Rice & Kroll (undated); Hohmeier (1987); Duckert (1976), and Hagtvedt (1979).
The findings from our investigation support as mentioned above the findings that stutterers are discriminated against in the workplace and that stutterers are posing limitations onto themselves. Woods (1978) speculates that stutterers from their childhood on learn the undesirable stereotype or stigma from people they talk to. Columbus (1997) is touching the same theme in his paper on disempowerment.
Quotations from our study:
From employers
The problem in my opinion, is that we have found discrimination, self imposed limitations, stereotyping etc. and then we are not doing anything further. There is very little written about how we can alter this state, although eg. Rice (1995), Rice & Kroll (1995), and The Stuttering Information Center of Denmark (1996) convey some suggestions, such as educating or informing employers, vocational counselors etc. But the big question still remains open: What is causing stigma, stereotyping, and the entailing discrimination? And then: How can we cancel stigmatization, discrimination, and stereotyping?
A suggestion
My suggestion is, that we have to localize what is triggering stigma, discrimination, and negative stereotyping. Do we frighten our interlocutor when stuttering? Duckert (1976) and Hagtvedt (1978) suggest that when we stutter we are violating the normal conversational rules thus making the interlocutor feel insecure and afraid. But then again: What is causing the insecurity of our conversational partner? Are there other sources of anxiety than breaking the conversational rules? Why are people who know stutterers seemingly less prone to discriminate against them?
Without having any empirical evidence, I am suggesting, that we have to study the communication process and hence the interplay between intrapersonal psychology and interpersonal psychology. In other words, we have to change the "Goffman sociological paradigm" to a paradigm of a more psychological nature.
In this way we might get closer to the "onset" of stigma, discrimination, and negative stereotyping, learning about the nature of their "onset" and "triggering". Then, presumably, we may get a higher chance of eliminating them or alleviating their consequenses.
But on the other hand:
From the stutterers:
At job interviews:
On the other hand, on the job:
These findings are in line with the findings of the authors mentioned
above. Further, the most significantly negative statements elicited in our study were made by people who didn't know anything of stuttering nor did they know a stutterer.
Columbus, Peter, J. People who Stutter: Disempowerment at the Microsocial Level. (Conference paper? 1997? - I have lost track of the origin of the paper, sorry!)
Duckert, Fanny. (1976). Stamming i sosialt perspektiv. (English: A Social Perspective on Stuttering). Norsk tidsskrift for logopedi, 22: 46-59.
Goffman, Erving. (1975). Stigma. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
Hagtvedt, Bente Eriksen. (1979). Stamming i kommunikasjonsperspektiv. (English: A Communicative Perspective on Stuttering). Nordisk tidsskrift for Logopedi og Foniatri. pp. 37-46.
Hohmeier, Jürgen. (1987). Zur beruflichen Situation von Stutternden. (English: On the vocational Situation of Stuttering Persons). Ergebnisse einer empirischen Erhebung. Die Sprachheilarbeit 32, 1: pp. 25-31.
Hurst, Melanie I.; Cooper, Eugene B. (1983). Employer Attitudes Toward Stuttering. Journal of Fluency Disorders 8: 1-12.
Rice, Marshall. Work Place Experiences of People who Stutter. (in press/about 1995).
Rice, Marshall D.; Kroll, Robert. A survey of Stutterer's Perceptions of Challenges and Discrimination in the Workplace. (In press/ about 1995).
The Stuttering Information Center of Denmark. (1996). Access to and Conditions on the Work Market for People with Epilepsy and People who Stutter.
Woods, C. Lee (1978). Does the Stigma Shape the Stutterer? Journal of Communucation Disorders. 11: 483-487.