Stuttering in Media?
Hello! My name is Samantha and I am not a person who stutters (PWS). I am curious- what is something that annoys PWS the most about how stuttering is portrayed in media (books, movies, tv shows, etc)? Is there one kind of inaccuracy that bothers you more than any other? I would be curious to hear any answers! Have a wonderful day!
Hi Samantha,
I’m a huge fan of competitive reality tv. My biggest pet peeve is when a PWS is on one of those shows and they get the inspirational edit. What I mean by that is there entire edit is “This person stutters. Woe is them! They are overcoming so much to be on this show! What an inspiration!” I wish stuttering was just one small part of their edit and not their entire edit.
Hi Samantha,
In short, my dream would be to see a character/person who stutters and for the stuttering not to become a subject of conversation, in the same way that whether a character is blond, tall, or brown-eyed is not.
The thing that bothers me the most is the overcoming narrative, because in addition to being false, it is also extremely toxic to all the other pws, who are automatically degraded because they have not overcome their stutter.
Andrea
Hi, Samantha, and thank you for this most important question!
Over many decades of media portrayals, there are three myths that keep up popping up about the disorder of stuttering:
1) Too often, stuttering is portrayed as relatively easy to permanently eliminate or “cure”. Characters are sometimes portrayed as having a stuttering disorder, and then later on (in the film or show or book) are speaking fluently with the implication that the stuttering is gone forever. There exists no generalized science-based cure for stuttering at the present time, and any fictional portrayal of such a cure gives audiences the wrong impression about the disorder.
2) Too often, stuttering is linked with some psychological, emotional, or mental shortcoming; the person who stutters is not quite “normal” from a psychological perspective. This stereotype about stuttering needs to change. People who stutter, as a rule, have no psychological or mental deficiency. Their only problem is a lack of consistency in the fluency of their speaking.
3) Stuttering is too often linked with incompetence. Characters who don’t always speak fluently are often considered to lack competence in their occupations/professions, or in their schooling.
I would really like to see fictional characters who JUST happen to have a stuttering disorder. The disorder may not have anything to do with a plot or a larger theme in a story. It would be great to see a character whose stuttering just IS. In other words, the stuttering is there, but that’s all.
Hi Samantha
What bothers me is when movies or TV enhances the tales that are already in society. No, we’re not more nervous, stupid, villians, sad etc than any other group in society. I wish there were more PWS just as we are. So not ABOUT stuttering (even if we want more of that too), but simply seeing a PWS in a game show, in a movie, just as another person in society. When the movie The King’s Speech came out I contacted the media. One said “who wants to listen to stuttering for 2 hrs, haha”. Well, guess what, we’re here, 24/7/365, so you might as well get used to it. 🙂
Also check out this movie project on stuttering in movies: https://www.stamily.org/movies