Should there be fear talking to other stutters?

[Be YOURSELF]

Hello

I'm in therapy group full of stutterers apart from the therapist and sometimes an assistant. Everyone participates in activities (usually our worst stutter scenario) apart from this one Guy. I find it hard to understand why a stutterer will do that in an environment full of stutterers. Is this fear? will you be scared of speaking, interacting with other stutterers? Will there be any kinda of negative feeling if you come across your worst scenarios when dealing with stutterer?

[Punjabi]

Hi. Interesting post.
">Is this fear? "
Definetly. And fear is not just something that happens due to stutterering. Fear can be fear of exposure, fear of looking silly, fear of failing, fear of letting people down etc. These may explain why your college doesn't take part in activities.
Also, on a stuttering course I've been to, stutters often stand up in front of 40 odd people and speak, but their fluent partners are often paralised at the thought of speaking in front of the group - even though most of the group is made up of stutterers!
their fear is not one of stuttering, but of all the things I previously listes, and probably many others too.

">will you be scared of speaking, interacting with other stutterers?"
Yes, I often am....not afraid of stuttering, but afraid of not creating a good first impression. Afraid of coming across as boring. Afraid of not being able to hold the other persons attention. The list goes on.

All the best

Punjabi

[happy7117]

I have no fear in talking to a stutterer, especialy chicks.

Only problem is I have not met a chick that stutters in my area.

If there was a chick that stutters in my area, I would be talking -stuttering to her in a heartbeat with no fear or hesitation!

In my opinion, I don't think there should be any fear in talking to a stutterer because we are all in the same stuttering boat!

[Perad]

I recently had a similar experience on a course I went to. The person had to be spoken to before a conversation begun. In the end I think he was shy as by the third week he was much more talkative.

You should be more comfortable with speaking to people that stutter. You have something in common with them and that thing is the stutter itself. If you do not want to speak to someone who is fluent then I can just about understand. However a person that stutters, knows the problem and knows how to react to it.. they are a joy to speak to. No matter what their age, occupation or is.

[Charlieb]

I recently had a similar experience on a course I went to. The person had to be spoken to before a conversation begun. In the end I think he was shy as by the third week he was much more talkative.

You should be more comfortable with speaking to people that stutter. You have something in common with them and that thing is the stutter itself. If you do not want to speak to someone who is fluent then I can just about understand. However a person that stutters, knows the problem and knows how to react to it.. they are a joy to speak to. No matter what their age, occupation or is.

This is a tough one for me too. there's a guy I work with who also has a stammer, well actually I'd call his a stutter but I've never really talked about it to him, I mean what are you going to say?? "how do you feel when you stutter/stammer?" I don't know how this guy would react, truth be told I don't know how I'd react.

I've signed up for the Mcguire course for next year but this thought is in my head. Am I going to make myself worse by digging up thoughts and feelings that I have managed to cope with up to now.

Is my speech broken?? if not why try to fix it???:confused:

[Danny]

When I discovered other stutters on the Internet, my immediate thought was "I hope to meet them some day soon" but the idea scared me a bit because what if I finished sentences for them?

I know it's strange for a stutterer to feel like he doesn't know how to react to other stutterers but in my case, I've never met another stutterer before!

After listening to a few episodes of StutterTalk (a podcast) and joining this forum, I grew even more eager to meet fellow stutterers in person and my fear has gone way!