Letter: Columnist's response to stuttering an inspiration

As a lifelong stutterer myself, I know what Nick Christie means... stuttering blows. I can confirm many of the feelings that Christie expressed in his column, such as trepidation, embarrassment and isolation. I have also never found a magic bullet therapy to make me completely fluent. Statistically, only about one percent of the population at large stutters, but at Duke, the percentages are probably much lower. Imagine being the only person who can't draw in a world full of artists; that's what it feels like to stutter at a place like Duke.

Whether stuttering is a disability is a good question: On one hand, stutterers cannot, due to neurological and physical reasons, perform a task that the vast majority of other people perform easily. On the other hand, it is not appropriate for society to make similar accommodations for stutterers as for people with other kinds of physical disabilities.

However, as Christie suggests, the question isn't really that important. The important thing for stutterers isn't to be fluent speakers, but rather to have fulfilling personal and professional lives despite our dysfluencies.

I applaud Christie for not letting his stuttering prevent him from being a reporter, asking questions at press conferences or even just talking a lot to his friends. Sometimes it's okay to reflect on and feel bad about the unfortunate circumstances of our lives, but the important thing is to not let these circumstances dictate our activities or prevent us from doing things we enjoy. I was inspired by Christie's approach to dealing with his speech impediment. Even though life has dealt stutterers some difficult cards, the important thing, as Bob Dylan said, is to keep on keepin' on.