It’s something I always ignored.
“Oh, it didn’t affect me. I wasn’t bullied. I had lots of friends.”
And no, I wasn’t bullied. And yes, I had lots of friends.
But to pretend that my curious malady had no effect on my is the mere sticking my head in the sand and ignoring my history.
What’s this malady? Why, it’s what denied me insurance as a “pre-existing condition” before Obamacare: my stutter.
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t stutter. As long as I can recall speaking, I stuttered.
And we’re not talking about a cute little stammering hesitation. We’re talking about gut-wrenching, running out of breath blocks, where I just couldn’t get the words out, couldn’t make myself heard, face contorted, body twisting just to force out the words. I can just imagine what my face looked like, wracked with the effort of mere speech, speech which came as easily as walking to anyone else.
A Writing Corner 