When I tell people that I am a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP), their initial reaction is either one of understanding and encouragement, expressing something along the lines of “Wow, I bet you’re great at that because you really understand what your clients are going through!” or one of doubt and questioning, going something along the lines of “How can you do that?!”, ”That must be hard with your speech….”, ”Interesting choice of a profession…” etc. This is because I am a stutterer. As you (and most people) might assume, I became an SLP because of my interest in stuttering. But being an SLP who stutters is not always easy.
I exist in this field as a marginalized and stigmatized person. As a stutterer, you’d think being a Speech-Language Pathologist would be easy because we’re a bunch of kind, empathetic, and accepting people who work with people with communication differences all day. As true as that might be, that has not been my experience – or the experience of many other SLPs who stutter that I’ve met. The amount of discrimination that is faced by SLPs who stutter to this day is ridiculous.