Which brings me to an interesting point. Over the past few years I have interacted with many people, some of whom have mocked me because I have a difficult time speaking in a fluid manner. Generally, the mocking exists as a simple laugh. In rare cases, like the one last night the individual actually mimics my dysfluency. In this case it was a t-t-t. Anyway, the point of this is that the majority of individuals who mock me to my face were young women. I have no doubt that my age (and possibly gender) influence their likelihood to mock (if I were much older than they I expect they would defer to the culturally expected norm to 'respect your elder', as for my gender, I don't know if I would be mocked more or less if I were female).
Anyway, I have decided that I am enacting a Zero-Tolerance policy when it comes to people mocking my stutter. If I am laughed at while ordering coffee (or anything else) I will ask the attendant what is so funny - because apparently what they find funny is synonymous with what I find terribly frustrating. And asking them what's funny about stuttering may put them in their place, and allows me to be more open about my speech disorder. And it would give me an opportunity to educate my fellow humans about speech disorders, specifically stuttering. Furthermore, as a future speech-language pathologist it is my responsibility to increase awareness about speech disorders. The attendants that mock me will hopefully not mock another individual who stutters, thus, making the world a more friendly place for my prospective clients.
Anyway, I'm done ranting now.
