Jasmine Penney
Ontario, Canada
"What is something you want people to
know about your stutter?"
"Something I
want people to know.. hmm, that's a good question. I mean, having people know
that my stutter has its days - there are times where I will wake up and I can
just feel it in my body that it will be a good day, fluency wise, or it will be
a crappy day. I want people to know that it really is not something that I can
control - as much as I would like to think I can control it and make it go
away, I can't."
"What is your dream job?"
"I don't
really have a dream job, but I have a passion with working with youth with
disabilities. I feel that I can connect with them on a level that others cannot
because of my stutter."
"What do you think you might do
differently in your life if you didn’t stutter?"
"I would do
so much more than what I am doing - I would have gone to University to become a
teacher and would have been much more involved with school."
"What have you learned from living
with a stutter?"
"I have
learned patience and perseverance; I've learned that people can be really cruel
(old and young) and that I have to stand up for myself and be my own advocate
if I ever want it to end. I've also learned that accepting my stutter and not
letting it affect the thing that I do is one step to a more fulfilled life, but
I'm slowly getting there."
"What is something you wish you could say to people when they smirk, laugh, etc. at your speech impediment?"
" 'If I
laughed at you for something you couldn't help like, oh I don't know, your
crappy personality, how would you feel about it?' haha - that's my passive
aggressive approach. What I generally do is make them aware that I have a
stutter and then move on - they will normally apologize and we will carry on
with a conversation. I've been put in a situation where people have been aware
of my stutter and continue to laugh anyway; in those situations I realize that
there are really unkind people in this world and that I know that I am much
more capable of doing things and building relationships with people than they
are."
"Have you ever felt limited by your stutter?"
"I would lie
if I say that I haven't felt that way and I know that I let it limit me; it's a
daily hindrance. I feel that I cannot do what others do and I cannot do some
jobs that others without speech impairments can do, but I've accepted that and
have moved on. If I didn't feel so negative about having a stutter and embraced
it, perhaps I could feel more comfortable about doing other things that I
normally would feel uncomfortable doing."
"Have you ever met someone else you
stuttered?"
"A few years back, I met my best friend, Evan. We met at the
college bookstore and when we both found out we stuttered it was a friendship
made in heaven. Having that support from someone who actually understands me
100% was the most amazing feeling."
I really hope you have enjoyed my first of many interviews! For all of my fluent readers, I am confident that hearing from Jasmine and other people who stutter will not only help you personally understand people who stutter, but will also help further the awareness of stuttering! For all of my stuttering readers, if you are interested in being a part of my project please email me at eaclanton@yahoo.com.
Please share this post and my blog!
Keep calm and stutter on,
Liz King
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