Imma go on a little rant cuz every time I think of Tina Fey from Glee I get so mad (from the experience as someone with a severe stutter)
First off just don’t take fake a stutter. No matter the circumstances don’t do it.
But anyways Tina did because she got really really anxious about presentations at school, which I completely understand. Presentations are THE most stressful thing for me out of literally everything. But having a stutter doesn’t excuse you from presentations like it did in the show. You get accommodations, but those very much depend on the teacher.
For example last year for English I still had to do a bunch of presentations and group work. I didn’t have to speak for really small presentations and I used a technique that works half the time, but I still had to present in front of the entire class many times even tho it got cut short cuz of covid. For English this year tho my teacher was fantastic and I never had to present and she let me work with people I know. It’s NOT an automatic excuse to not do presentations even tho I wish it was.
Also would you fake having other disabilities? No? Then why is it okay for faking a stutter? Because it’s treated like a joke. The whole Did I stutter? Thing gets me mad too but that’s not the point.
People always assume I’m stupid and jokingly ask “Oh did you forget your name?” so often which causes me to work so so hard in school to prove that hey I’m actually smart. At a science fair one year the judge did that and then flat out ignored me and only talked to my partner. And that’s just one example of how it affects me and there are many others.
Since I was really little I’ve always wanted to read a book where a character has a stutter but is just like everyone else. But all I found were autobiographies. There is extremely little representation which hurts. And then to see the only popular representation I have be faking it just really really hurts. Also if you’re gonna fake a stutter why would you write it out like T-t-t-Tina???? I write and read like everyone else it only affects my speech.
I could go on and on about how I wouldn’t wish it on anyone and all the other ways it affects me and makes me feel terrible, but that’s not the point.
If you want to write a character with a stutter that’s great! Do it! I’d love to see it and we need more representation! But do your research. Look things up about it and talk to people who do stutter. Research the emotional aspects of it too cuz that affects me just as much if not more as the actual stutter itself.
In summary just don’t write someone who fakes a stutter and actually do some research so you know that you don’t just get an excuse not to do presentations and you don’t stutter when you write.
