James Robinson and John Hendrickson are challenging perceptions of stuttering in a video op-ed piece for The New York Times titled, “I Stutter. But This Is What You’re Not Hearing.” This is Robinson’s second video in a series aimed at helping audiences “overcome discomfort with disability” by following the experiences of those living with retinitis pigmentosa, prosopagnosia and dysphemia — the neurological condition also known as stuttering.
Over 70 million people stutter worldwide, according to the Stuttering Foundation, but that’s only the number of adults who continue to stutter past adolescence. Around 5% of all children will grapple with some form of stuttering, including repetitions, prolongations and blocks. Robinson and Hendrickson explain that these three forms of stuttering make navigating conversation more difficult for the speaker, and demand great mental energy.
In the video, Robinson explains that Hendrickson is a writer and senior editor for The Atlantic, despite his disability being directly tied to communication. He began stuttering as a child, but was one of many children who carry their stutter into adulthood. There are forms of therapy and exercises that can aid people with dysphemia, but at the end of the day, there is no “magic cure-all” for stuttering.
Hendrickson had never found success with speech therapy, and made the decision five years ago to no longer hide his stutter. He began writing about dysphemia, and the experiences of others with this condition.
One of his most notable works, “What Joe Biden Can’t Bring Himself to Say,” explores how then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s own stuttering had affected others’ perception of him, causing some members of the public to question his “mental fitness.” The article explores how Biden’s unwillingness to embrace his stuttering in a present-tense — not just something he “overcame in the past” — prevents him from portraying a message of de-stigmatization for dysphemia.
“I don’t want to hear Biden say ‘I still stutter’ to prove some grand point,” Hendrickson wrote. “I want to hear him say it because doing so as a presidential candidate would mean that stuttering truly doesn’t matter — for him, for me, or for our 10-year-old selves.”
“I Stutter” challenges the notion that Hendrickson’s speech patterns are the issue, suggesting instead that listeners’ impatience is what creates tension and miscommunication.
Robinson compares listeners’ need for fluency in conversation to expecting an immediate response from technology. Though the main cause of someone’s stuttering has more to do with genetics than anxiety, Robinson asserts that listeners’ impatience, attempts to fill in the end of sentences or even telling those with dysphemia to “relax” or “calm down” intensifies the stuttering.
“It’s not that long to hear what someone has to say,” Robinson said. “After all, John and those who stutter have been waiting much longer for us to listen.”