Th-th-th-that's all folks!"
When I was younger I use to watch Looney Tunes cartoons every morning, and I loved saturday mornings bcause they would play non-stop for a good 3 or 4 hours. We didnt have television like we did today, I would have to get up and chang the channel or adjust the antenna. But that did not matter. Me and my sisters would turn the TV on and sit there for hours laughing. My favorite was Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig. I laughed at how he talked all the time. It was funny to me.
That was until my cousin Rosa was born. And she was a stutterer. We never understood why she talked that way. We just knew that she did. And all the kids would tease her, and she would start to cry. Then me and all my cousins would come running and beat the kids up for teasing her (I know that was not nice, but we did). As I got older, I was introduced to more and more people who talked this way. People in my neighborhood, the man who ran the corner candy store, and even one of my school teachers.
When I grew older and decided I wanted to go to college for Social Work, I once again was introduced to Stuttering but now it was because I attended a seminar that was talking about what stuttering is, how many people are affected by it, and as a society how it is dealt with and looked upon. When I came to find out what stuttering truly is, it changed my life and perception on what stuttering truly is.
The issue became important to me because through a few of my clients who dealt with stuttering, I was able to identify just what they were dealing with and how as a professional, I could assist them with what they needed. It was an eye opening experience for me and now I study it more, attend more seminars, make contacts with people who deal with the disorder. To me it has become a language.
Research that I have found so far is the National Stuttering Association http://www.nsastutter.org/ and I have made friends. I also do more reading on the subject. And in the future I am looking to join a support group so that I may better understand how people cope with stuttering and educate myself more.
Now Porky Pig is not only my favorite, he has become my Hero.
Mgoodwin
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