I have a mild stammer, this is how I deal with it.

I have a mild stammer, this is how I deal with it. I remember stuttering since I was about 9 years old. It got so bad, during our appointment with a speech pathologist I broke down and cried. School was hell, and it usually is for stutterers. The mocking, the ridicule. I became sad and angry, and I got into a lot of fights. After a while, the speech pathology helped and it subsided for the moment. By 7th and 8th grade I was a social butterfly and I was talking my ass hole, nobody could shut me up. And I had a good circle of friends. As I got into High School I neglected the language exercises and my social skills then suffered because I was afraid to speak. By 12th grade I've begun to have had enough with all the immature teens I was surrounded by and I wanted out. I had very few friends. Class Presentations were horrible, class would break out in laughter and the teacher would try his best to shut them up. Even in a group presentation a girl had asked to leave the classroom for a moment because she couldn't stifle her laughter. While I was preparing my next class presentation I tuned into CNN, and listened to a Bill Clinton speech. He was eloquent, articulate. Calm, he took pauses and assessed the audience. And with every pause, people hung onto every word. People wanted to hear what this man had to say. Even when he said. "I did not have... Sexual relations with that woman!" It was slow, deliberate and made sure that the listens got the point. Say what you will about the controversy surrounding Bill, but he's a damn good speaker. So I studied him. Other politicians as well, like Joe Biden. He also had a stutter. I think Obama stammers a bit too . Went back, did the presentation. Didn't stammer a single word. I'm now in a career where I have to speak a lot, communication is key in my office, to business meetings, talking shop with co-workers. Sometimes, it happens during meetings. Which is bad, but I dealt with it by. Dramatic pause, a smile, taking a deep breath, and continuing on like nothing happened. Obama does this as well if you pay attention, only except he doesn't look at the people. He looks at teleprompters. -_-. Teachers and professors used to say I'm courageous for choosing a path like this, where I have to talk a lot. There are people in this world and in this subreddit who can't articulate a single word because of their speech impediment. Thankfully, I made it. Children can be very cruel, and they don't know right from wrong. After a while, I just stopped getting sad and angry, and prepared to get into college.