Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Because of stuttering?

I know that TheStutteringBrain has been quite silent. I am currently working on my upcoming book intensively, and just didn't come around writing posts. Recently, I came across this statement:
Some stereotypes are self-reinforcing. If someone tells you over and over that you are oppressed, if you hit an obstacle and fail, like all of us do at some point in our lives, a convenient excuse is that you are discriminated against
I also noticed that we are often using stuttering as an excuse for failure: I didn't get the job, girl, recognition, the promotion, the attention, the qualification BECAUSE of stuttering. But everytime I probe us, I discover that stuttering was not the cause of our failure or at least not the only one and definitely not an insurmountable one. No, we either did not have the qualification, the charm and looks, the charisma, the ability for hard and dilligent work to succeed.

Here is a story from my life. I blamed the fact that I didn't have a girlfriend on my stuttering. Then I went to a youth camp for stuttering young people organized by ELSA (European League of Stuttering Associations), and thought that now I will get a girlfriend! When that didn't work, I started thinking that maybe it was not just due to my stuttering! ;-)

So the next time you fail. don't blame it on stuttering.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So very true. I come across this all the time on forums and talking to other PWS who complain about life and their future directions. It is always the fault of their stuttering. Easy for me to say though but people there are normally other reasons at play for failed situations.

Anonymous said...

I have had so many opportunities in my life that I am grateful for but I let pass me by. It was only in my 40s that I could see how I held myself back when it didn't have to be that way. Don't blame the stuttering, how true.

Harry said...

Tom Said :
"I blamed the fact that I didn't have a girlfriend on my stuttering"

The reason you don't have a girlfriend is not because you have a stutter, but it's because you are arrogant, opinionated, abnoxious, and self-righteous.