Job Careers
Hello, my name is Jeremiah Jackson, and Iām a second-year graduate student studying speech-language pathology. One of the areas Iām really interested in is how stuttering impacts people beyond speech itself, especially in their day-to-day lives. My question is: Has stuttering influenced your career path or personal relationships in unexpected ways, whether positively or negatively? Iād love to hear about the ways it may have shaped your opportunities, challenges, or even the way others relate to you.
Hello Jeremiah
Your question is a good one. The answer’ however, is long and complex.
For many, perhaps even most, PWS, stuttering impacts every part of life. For me personally, stuttering did impact my career, but from the point that I let stuttering impede me in same ways. Even so, I did pretty well in my career, some might say even very well. The less I let my stutter stop me, the better I did.
The goal is to reframe the question. It is not “how did stuttering impact me”, but rather “how did, or do, I let stuttering impact me”. Speech therapists need to see it in this way, otherwise you might forever be trying to fix the stuttering. There is no cure, and fluency-focused treatment often leads to misery.
The point is to accept stuttering and to reduce avoidance behaviors related to stuttering.
I developed social anxiety due to my beliefs about stuttering and therefore about myself. I am not unique. My life changed for the better when I started to look at stuttering as something that just Is, a difference and not a defect. Only once I started to develop acceptance regarding stuttering and myself, did my life turn around, including developing unexpected and wonderful personal relationships.
Hope this helps
Hanan Hurwitz
Hello, Jeremiah, and thanks for the interesting questions!
My severe stuttering has influenced my life in many different ways, and has led me down all kinds of interesting paths in my life journey. And many of those paths have been very positive indeed. My life would have been very different if I was a normally fluent speaker.
Career-wise, my stuttering has definitely been a strong influence in my life choices. I had a long period of graduate education (12 years) in various fields. I have studied music, mathematics, and speech-language pathology. Clearly, the third field mentioned was a result of becoming interested in the speech pathology field due to my stuttering.
But for many years, my goal was to become a professor of music, and I pursued a doctorate in that area. But after difficulties with job interviews, and wondering how my severe stuttering would impact a possible professorship, I decided that the pressure would be too much. To make things easier, I decided to pursue other avenues.
In the music field I have worked as a pianist/composer, music instructor (I did teach one graduate course), and Concert Director.
But eventually I made my way into the speech-language pathology field and social services for those with special needs.
My stuttering definitely influenced my choices – I decided a professorship just wasn’t for me.
And stuttering also had a major influence in my personal life decisions. I was living in Massachusetts 25 years ago when I met a fluent Norwegian woman online, through an early stuttering-related website. (She had interests in the disorder of stuttering, and in people who stutter.) We started a daily correspondence. After about 3 months of correspondence, she flew to the U.S. to meet me in person, and one week later we were engaged! Four months after that, I moved to Norway, and we married 10 days later. We have been happily married now for over 25 years.
So stuttering brought me into a whole new life and society, and into a beautiful new country.
In the U.S. I experienced some job and educational discrimination due to stuttering. But stuttering has also brought me great rewards in life!
I would say that my life would have been very different if I had never stuttered. I’m not saying better, just different!
Hi Jeremiah!
Stuttering has definitely affected my career path. I went to college for Sport Administration and after hearing many different speakers talking about the nature of the industry and how competitive it is, I shied away from it with a large part of that being my stutter. That being said, I had a very different perspective on stuttering now than I did in my early 20s and am less inclined to have my stutter hold me back from doing things but it definitely had a big impact in this stage of my life. I’m currently still trying to find what I want to do in terms of a career, but having the support of the stuttering community and seeing so many people go after what they want in life and not having their stutter hold them back, it’s motivating for me to do the same when I figure it out.
My stutter has definitely affected my personal relationships as well. I find that it can make it harder to have small talk or casual conversations, but it has led me to having deeper connections with people because of the way it has impacted my life and made me vulnerable. When you open up to people, especially about something you have had to battle throughout your life, it gives them the invitation to also open up, leading to a deeper connection.
Matt
Hi Jeremiah
Thank you for your question. I always thought that stuttering had an impact on my career. But nowadays I realise it’s not stuttering, but the reactions to my stutter that had a tremendous impact on my career.
All my career choices were stopped by people saying I shouldn’t study as I wouldn’t get a job anyway. I was bullied by students, but also by teachers telling me I wouldn’t have friends, not a future. I “hadn’t done my homework” when I couldn’t get the words out. I was told not to ask questions in class as I took too much time. (In previous ISADs I talk about my youth and how that shaped me.) I felt my life was over and tried to end it. Luckily it didn’t succeed.
My father got me a summer job and there they saw my potential and gave me a steady job. I moved abroad and from that moment on I was headhunted for most jobs, simply because they saw my skills, but also because of what my stuttering journey taught me, turning it into strengths and competences that others who’ve had a smooth start in life, might not have. And finally, as I hated school so much and had a huge trauma, I went back to school to face my demons from the past, studied for two years and… got a job, as a teacher, and later on even teaching teachers!
I now know I’m good enough, know my worth. Sure, I’ll never be a salesperson. But not because of my stutter, but because I couldn’t sell water in the desert! š I’m married, have a family, and am appreciated for who I am, as a person and for my skills. I now support young PWS to find their voice and stuttering is my signum. My quote has gone viral: Sure I stutter, what are you good at?” as were good enough, just the way we are. If you’d like, please read my two presentations in this conference, and also in previous conferences, and it might give some more anwers to your question.
I also gave some advice in my paper in this conference, so feel free to have a read. š
Happy ISAD and keep talking
Anita