Hello From Texas

[opher7]

Hi, my name is Opher and I'm a 20 (soon to be 21)-year-old student from Houston, Texas. I don't want to air my grievances or lament about life's misfortunes, but I think it's appropriate to give a bit of my background. I've been stuttering since I was 12 and save a Hollins program last year, haven't really done any intensive speech therapy. Although I have always hoped that as I got older I would simply "grow out" of my habit, it is slowly becoming apparent that my stutter is part of who I am and will to a certain extent play a role in my future career prospects. Although I beat myself up over it, many people say they don't even notice--I by no means block for minutes on end, but I do have some minor disfluencies. This does not stop me from socializing or speaking up during class, but it is something that I must be consciously aware of.

In my free time I like to run and study philosophy and theology. Although I have always been wary of labeling myself as a stutterer and associating it as part of my identity, I thought it would be interesting to meet other stutters and exchange thoughts. Nice to meet you all! :)

[JDRow]

Nice to meet you, Opher.

[Standingtall]

Welcome Opher, good to meet you. Looking forward in learning more from you.

[timitao]

opher good to see you here, feel the force from the stuttering gods they will guide you.

"with every adversity comes a blessing"

[spacebow]

Dude we are in the same situation. I also started stuttering when I was around 12. Im 16 now and I also thought I could possible grow out of it. I know thats never going to happen now so Im trying my best to control my stutter. Ive had zero therapy and medication and Im hoping I never need to depend on either. Anyway, enjoy your stay here!

[meej]

welcome!!

it's really nice to have you here.

some of my friends also said they don't notice my stutter , but sometimes it has negative effect when in class and you are called to respond to a question with the answer beggining in a word that you can't say..

(sorry for my bad english)

[Hans]

Hi Opher,
You sound like a thinker. Look forward to knowing you.;)

[Pennywise]

hey opher....whats up in Texas ;)
i was in Texas 2 years ago at my cousin :)
i noticed something in your post, you said: "I have always hoped that as I got older I would simply "grow out" of my habit, it is slowly becoming apparent that my stutter is part of who I am and will to a certain extent play a role in my future career prospects." and i agree with this. People often think that stuttering is nature of youths. It is true to some point, cos i know at my own sample. When i was younger i stuttered a lot more. Now i 'learn' how to control my speech. I stutter, but less. I do beleive that every1 can bite stuttering, it is hard but do we have anything to lose?-nope

regards
best wishes