A stutter is officially a “disability“. You can call it a speech impediment, but it’s all part of the tree of disabilities. I do not like to think of myself as disabled and I advice that anyone who might sometimes be considered “disabled” stays away from that word.
The thing about the word “disabled” is that in our minds, it carries the connotations of someone who is less competent in everyday life. I believe this assumption is fundamentally wrong. I’ve heard stories of people without legs climbing the highest peaks in the world. And if people without legs are able to get themselves places that many people with legs couldn’t ever dream of, then obviously having(or not having) legs does not influence how far or where you can go. The only person influencing that is you, with your decision.
This misunderstood nature of disabilities causes us to abuse that we are “disabled“. Many people who consider dyslexia as a disability stop all efforts of learning to read and write. People who consider their stutter a disability, stop all efforts to use speech when they should. You should see my body language game 🙂
What I’m trying to get at, is the moment you tag yourself “disabled” you will create an excuse for yourself. That excuse will then be a universal reason for your shortcomings. The reason why I’m single is because I stutter. The reason why I fit on the introverted scale is because I stutter. The reason why I settled for a small coffee when I paid for a large one is because I stutter. While in reality, I could get a girlfriend, I’ve been born introverted and should embrace it and I could have easily gotten my money’s worth on that coffee, but I was too lazy. We see disability as a certain incompetence in life and then we make what we see, the case. The line “you are what you see in the mirror” has floated about for a long time. We nod our heads in approval, pretending to see some deeper meaning. Let’s actually think about it. If you look at a mirror and see someone with a speech impediment and therefore disabled and socially challenged. You will make yourself become socially challenged. Viewing yourself as disabled is your inner attempt to be lazy. Don’t do it.
I’ve got another interesting example. I’ve always been dreadful at geography. There is no known disability that has a symptom of just being dreadful at geography. Because of this, I just had to sit the fuck down and start learning countries. There was no other option. I pulled myself through and during the last years of it I was the best in class. Now imagine what would happen if I was terrible at writing (My handwriting looks like some sort of ancient language, but that’s beside the point). Our society knows a disability that has a symptom of being bad at writing. It’s called dyslexia. Now look at my options. I now have a choice. I can now give up on writing and get away with it. This was not an option with geography, because geograslexia is not a thing. See what’s happened, the tag “disabled” gives you an option of giving up. It’s an excuse for being lazy.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not having a swing at dyslexia. I am dyslexic. The issue I’m pointing out is that we are living in a lazy society. The way we treat dyslexia, is a direct representation of this. The moment I pass the dyslexic test (I have not heard of a single person that took this test and failed), I am given extra time in all my exams. Teachers stop pressuring me to do good in English. I’m allowed to drop English before everyone else. I become a lost cause in the field of English. My example of the man with no legs, climbing Mt. Everest demonstrates that having a difficulty related to a certain action, does not mean that you should not pursue achievement in that action. People with dyslexia should be told to put more work into English as that is their difficulty. They should not be excused from English lessons or given extra time in exams. People with a stutter should not be excused from speaking exams or interviews. That’s lazy!
You stutter? Tough, tell the interviewer “I stutter, I can’t help it, let me finish if I block“. All of a sudden you have turned your “disability” into a channel through which you can flood the room with confidence and power. Your chances of landing the job have probably more than doubled from the initial “I cannot attend the interview because of my disability“.
I know people who stutter have landed themselves in the highest places, where speaking is literally their job. Bruce Willis is an example. Not to even mention the dozens of well-known comedians who stutter. I know dyslexic people who have achieved ultimate success in the field of writing. The Great Gatsby is arguably one of the greatest American novels. Guess what? F. Scott Fitzgerald was dyslexic. I could go on forever.
To conclude, if you are a person that has one of the “disabilities” do not think of it as a set-back. Having a “disability” means you have a different set of tools. You have the advantage of developing unbelievable amounts of will-power simply by living your life. You have the ability to feel the pain of many others around you, when they stumble over their shortcomings. You have an immediate common ground with a large amount of people. When you do something great, people will use you as a source of motivation and inspiration (I wouldn’t recognize the face of a single person who climbed Everest. The guy who did it without legs, his face I could recognize instantly). That is how you should use your “disability“. Do not spend your life missing out.
If you want to add to or dispute this, go ahead.