This article explores three conceptual modes of belonging within the stuttering community—curative, inclusive, and transformative—each reflecting distinct relationships to disability, social relations, and political action.
Curative belonging operates within an ableist framework, positioning fluency as a prerequisite for belonging. In the mode of inclusion, people who stutter seek belonging within existing societal relations and must contort themselves appropriately. Transformative belonging, by contrast, reimagines dysfluency as a generative difference, challenging the dominance of fluency and advocating for a world that embraces stuttering on its own terms. By mapping these modes, this article highlights the tensions within the stuttering community and argues for a political shift that moves beyond tolerance and integration towards an affirmative vision of dysfluency as a site of resistance and belonging.