I'll be honest, I was not able to get through your article at the moment because I'm on vacation with family and chasing my 1 year old around. What I did read of it I liked though. It's very thoughtful and easy to follow. My story in short, is that I've been told I'm an Atypical stutterer in that I've never let it stand in the way of saying what I want to say. I always got frustrated by it, (I still do to some degree) and I hated being teased for it, but I just couldn't bring myself to shut up. If anything I get louder and more aggressive with my speech. It still hurt though. I'd go home and feel angry and broken. Then one day in junior high, I realized this is all I ever got teased for. I concluded that if this is the worst thing these assholes had on me, I'm doing pretty damn well. It still hurt, but after that, I found I could take the power from them by rolling my eyes and asking if that's the best they've got? Does stuttering suck? Yes. Does it reflect strongly on us as people? Absolutely fucking not. I wish I had time to edit this farther but I need to get back to family. Sorry if it's a bit choppy.