Stutterer or Non-stutterer?

[sloth]

Someone asked me a question today that i found very interesting. I am a covert stutterer and so therefore my stuttering is unnoticable to most people, and is otherwise not that severe anyway. Someone asked me today that if i all of a sudden, i became completely fluent, would i drop the title of a "stutterer"? My answer to this was no, because i have been a so called "stutterer" my whole life, and i could not see any situation in which i would consider myself otherwise. I am just curious to other peoples thoughts on this. If you were one day fluent would you from then on see yourself as someone who does not stutter? I hope this makes sense, if there is any confusion please let me know.

-sloth

[llw03c]

i don't think i'm understanding. i'm like you in that i'm a "covert stutterer" and i'm sure that everyone will agree that we'd give almost anything to be really "stutter free" and wouldn't think twice about calling ourselves NORMAL.

[Theo Dreiser]

*confused*

[Ivor Stutter]

I would always mention it to anyone which it mattered too. Even if i were fluent which i dont think i will be. At work for example, i imagine that even if i could speak fluently i would still stutter under high stress conditions and presentations etc.

[happy7117]

If I suddenly stopped stuttering permenately,
I probably would call myself "recovering
stutterer"...

Meaning I may be very fluent, but the stuttering
will always be with me no matter what!!

Even if one stopped stuttering-- the stuttering
would probably be a memory that is constantly with
you, because you lived with it so long...

[Tess]

My stutter is also unnoticable for some people. But a lot of people know that I have a stutter, cuz if you know me for a longer period than a month you might already noticed I have one. My stutter is actually quite fine now, especially when you compare it with how it used to be 3 years ago. Though, my stutter was today not really great, I think I've had a 'bad day'. I have that a lot lately, like the one day, I could talk pretty fluently, and the next day it's getting ten times worse. But I got a speech coach a few months ago, and that really helped. She helped me focussing on my fear, more than my speech itself. (I'm 15 years old, and she says that's a hard age to overcome your fear because you're all in puberty etc. etc. Oh, but I had a presentation a week ago - and it lasted for 15 (!) minutes, me, standing all alone in front of class, my biggest fear.. and the crazy thing was, I even wasn't that scared, I was actually pretty relaxed - and that is a really big thing for me, as I always was nerve wrecking nervous to stand and talk in front of a group). I had 2 speech coaches before this one, and they never took the time to work on my fear.
But anyway, I'm doing a lot better now and I think I've overcome my stutter now for like 80%, as odd it may sound. When I noticed I didn't stutter that much anymore, I was sooo happy and thought: Am I still a stutterer? So I think it's an interesting question. A classmate (who's also a friend) asked me that too and I didn't really know how to answer. But I don't think I'll ever completely overcome it, so.. I guess I'd call myself, like someone else said, a 'recovering stutterer'.