OldBusaGuy
Registered
My friend and locker partner in public school from 7th grade through graduation had an intense stutter and got ridiculed for it a lot. He was a great guy and married a nice lady and raised a nice family in spite of his impediment.When I was in 5th grade in Boise ID I befriended a kid who happened to stutter. If he stuttered in class he was spanked for it. That’s right, he was spanked for his stutter. After a few spankings he wouldn’t speak to anyone unless he absolutely had to. When we spoke outside all it took was patience on my part which he appreciated immensely. Most people he said would try to finish his sentence or become impatient and just walk away. Overcoming this affliction must be very very hard. I hope his life went better than his public schooling did.
I also worked with two men that had stutters over the years and both were my dads age and still stuttered. By that age, most people had grown up and stopped screwing with them and making fun of them.
I've never known any women to have a stutter and it makes me wonder if it's more of a guy thing. Aside from having some pretty strong opinions about some things and being pretty vocal about them, I thank my lucky stars to not have to deal with some of the things in life that others are born with.
My inlaws were from Poland and spoke very broken English and it put them at a disadvantage compared to most of us that were born and raised in the USA. I also worked with a super nice black gentleman who was from Mississippi and he had such a southern drawl that most people avoided speaking with him. Their loss, and I still consider him to be a friend who is in his late 80's. We served our apprenticeships together.
One of my coworkers used to say "there but by the grace of God go I", and I think that applies to a lot of things including stuttering. Trust me that those that deal with it didn't choose it.