u/CherryDouble2661

I’ve been reading through some posts and feel like the channel needs some positivity…

I’ve stuttered my whole life. I was bullied, mocked, manipulated, etc, because of it. I stutter saying my name.. I got depressed because of my stutter. The list goes on but I know it made me resilient and mean in both good and bad ways. For instance, I have strict boundaries with my friends with my stutter and I think in doing so I have a great circle surrounding me. They don’t care that I stutter and it’s almost like it doesn’t even affect them. Idk if I believe them but they’ve been around for years and always wanting to hang out so I’ll take that as a good sign.

I graduated with my bachelors degree and got through all those presentations and conversation I swore were going to be the end of me.

I have a full time job in AI and IT with a team who sees my value and knows that I stutter. They want me to present at big meetings (love and hate this) and don’t act like it’s a burden or big thing. I’m even presenting at a big conference in a few months with about 300 people.

I still have my bad days but I really work on my mindset about it. For instance, in high school I just had this motto “if I’m scared do it scared.” And then at work I ask myself “what am I afraid of? That they’ll know I stutter? News flash they know.” Also I think about my stutter like an accent. Both of them can be hard to understand but people don’t blame the person.

I don’t think acceptance will come and the shame is still there but I just kept going and kept talking.

This could just be me but I’ve noticed my stutter is 10x worse around my family than with coworkers, friends, stranger, etc.

I don’t know why and if I even slow down, I get blocks (I rarely get blocks cuz I tend to talk super fast). Idk just so confusing to me. There is some trauma there but not bad enough for me to trust my friends over them if that makes sense.

When I was in speech therapy, my therapist wanted me to practice thinking about what I was going to say before I said it but that felt so foreign to me. Like I don’t hear my thoughts before I say it… I will sometimes plan my speech for presentations but I mean like in day-to-day conversations.

Like I don’t hear sentences in my head. Is that normal?

I’ve stuttered my whole life, and phone calls were the thing I organized my life around avoiding. Booking online because online can’t hear me. Letting voicemails pile up. Asking other people to make calls for me at an age where that’s embarrassing to admit.

So I built the thing I always wanted and could never afford to pay someone to do: it calls me at a random moment inside a window I set. There’s an AI on the other end playing a pharmacy, a receptionist, an interviewer. There’s different levels of difficulty depending on how much I want to practice. Afterward I get a short debrief.

I’d really value feedback from this community specifically:
• does the “surprise call” idea actually resonate, or does it sound stressful?
• what scenarios would you want to practice?
• anything that feels missing?

I put where u can find it in the comments.

Thanks for reading. Happy to answer anything in the comments.

I’m trying to understand what makes phone calls hardest for people who stutter. Would anyone be willing to answer a few questions?

For me, I stutter saying my name so I get anxiety that they are going to ask.

I’m curious if it’s more of one thing that makes it hard or a bundle of things? Also have u tried anything to help with it? I used to answer spam calls to practice but now I built this thing that ai calls me randomly a few times a week.

I always stutter on phone calls so I made an app that calls me at random times with different conversations. I need like 10 people to give me honest feedback on it. It’ll be free for you if u can help