About the Author: Michele Delo is a Registered Dietitian who currently works at a long-term care/rehab facility. Michele has been a Co-chapter leader of the Buffalo, NY NSA adult chapter for the last 7 years and takes great pride in supporting the stuttering community. Michele enjoys hiking, traveling, photography, dancing and learning new things in her free time. She has your own YouTube Channel.

When is the last time you have seen stuttering portrayed as a good or “normal” thing in the media? I cannot think of anything. The first thing that pops in my head is the opening scene of the movie Urban Legend. The scene at the gas station during the pouring rain used to make me feel uncomfortable but now I wait to see if anyone else has a reaction. The gas station worker has a stutter and tries to tell the lady that there’s a guy in her back seat. He can’t seem to get the words out and the girl gets impatient. She calls him a freak as she speeds away to her unfortunate death. 

I recently saw a comedy skit on TV that had about 5 minutes of poking fun at stuttering. I believe the jokes were political based. I felt so uncomfortable watching it with two people I didn’t know too well. One of them might have known about my stutter but not the other one. I made a comment that his jokes were not funny and rather rude. They ended up changing the channel shortly after. 

To me, stuttering is not something to be made fun of unless you’re laughing at yourself. The PWS can make fun of their own stutter but when someone who is fluent makes fun of a PWS, that is NOT ok! Stuttering is just a way that some people talk. People tend to laugh or make fun of things they don’t understand or that make them feel uncomfortable. We need to educate, advertise, and be our own advocate! Even if you don’t feel comfortable stuttering, try to make it appear that you do. The more you accept your stutter, the more other people will too. No matter what kind of day you’re having, show up! Do not hide or run away from a difficult task or social event. People need to hear our voices no matter how long it takes the words to come out! 

I work in a long-term care/rehab facility and we have a meeting every Wednesday that involves a lot of speaking about the residents. Many sounds I have trouble with attempt to defeat me every time. I get through it no matter how it comes out. I sometimes find myself huffing and puffing about a word I stuttered on but then I move on. I told my coworkers about my stutter before our first Wednesday meeting and it made me feel so much better knowing that they won’t be assuming anything else. I told them a couple jokes to lighten the mood. I said to them “I just wanted to let you all know that I have a stutter. I’m not having a stroke, lying and I’m not drunk!” They laughed with me on the last part! Everyone is different and unique in their own way. Don’t be afraid to be yourself and speak your truth! Your stutter is a part of you but there is so much more to share with everyone. 

I was told once before a presentation that people care more about what I’m saying than how I say it. Throughout my educational journey, all I wanted was to be praised for a good presentation. A good presentation to me would be how I got my point across, how interesting the topic was, how much I was able to recall and how comfortable I appeared. I never wanted to be praised for how fluent I was during a presentation. I was successful in this goal before I graduated from college. 

We need to speak more and let our stutter shine! I made a YouTube channel about stuttering and thought I would post one video (if that) because the thought of people finding out and hearing me stutter terrified me. Once I posted one video, there was a chain reaction. I now have about 8-10 videos and I plan on posting more! We cannot normalize stuttering in the mainstream if we hide our voices. We need to stutter loud and proud! Do not decline the invitation. Show up!