About the Author: My name is Adriana Flowers and I have been stuttering since I was eight. I am originally from Honduras and grew up there but have been living in Oregon for the past five years now with my family. I am currently a Master’s student at the University of Oregon, and I work for a call center at my school’s health center. I attended my first National Stuttering Association conference in 2018 when I was 19. It changed my life and I have not looked back ever since. I am excited to share my journey of being a person who stutters with everyone!

If you had told me a year and a half ago that I would be working in a call center at my school, I would have laughed in your face. Yes, I work in a call center, and I am a person who stutters. Around November 2020, I was looking for jobs on Handshake and came across this job at my school, the University of Oregon. The job entailed working in a call center and contacting students and community members by informing them that they have tested positive for COVID or have been identified as someone who has had contact with someone who tested positive, and then assisting them by providing them with information on resources that are available to them, policies on quarantining, etc. As you can imagine, most people are not pleased to get my call!  I was nervous about even applying because I did not know what to expect. But I did my interview and disclosed and before I knew it, I had been hired and started working in January 2021. Since then, I have made hundreds of calls assisting students at my university and other community members, all while being a person who stutters.

It has not been easy; there have been times where I have gotten questions like “what is wrong with your voice?” or “why are you so nervous?” I had bad stuttering days where I had trouble getting my name out and would dread picking up the phone or answering calls. There have been many times where a call went well in terms of getting what needed to be done, but I would always beat myself up if I stuttered. No matter how many calls I did, I would analyze the effectiveness based on how much I stuttered. Over time I have learned that I can be effective and do my job well even on days where I stutter. After all, I am getting the job done, right? It’s about what I say, not how I say it. There is no issue if you need clarification or because you misunderstood, but if you understood me fine, there is no reason to point out my stutter or react to it. Listen to me the way you would listen to someone who does not stutter.

People who stutter have taken on many different careers and been successful. After all, the way you talk does not determine your level of intelligence or how successful you are. There are many examples of jobs that have been taken by people who stutter, such as air traffic controllers, pilots, actors/actresses, comedians, singers, lawyers, politicians, etc. There are even speech language pathologists who stutter! (Tyrer, 2022).

In the end, if you have a stutter, the sky’s the limit. Do not sell yourself short. You are more than capable of doing any job if you stutter. If you take longer to make a phone call, embrace the fact that you even did the call. Most importantly, stutter beautifully!

This experience has helped me be seen and heard because I am showing people that a job that requires speaking is possible to be done by someone who stutters and that my voice matters and I deserve to be heard no matter how I talk.

Citations

Tyrer, A. (2022, August 29) Examples of jobs done by people who stammer/stutter. Stammeringlaw. https://www.stammeringlaw.org.uk/employment/examples-jobs