#because they'll look at the guy who can't hold down a job or maintain friendships

[ariel-s-awesome]

I went into speech therapy 10000% sure that 1) If I moved people would think my lisp was an accent and respect it and 2) that anyone who matters will put in the effort to understand me. And I was right!!!

Forced speech therapy is the same as ABA therapy with the same effects. You're sat down to be told that the way you do it is inherently wrong. You're taught to pick your behavior to pieces and analyze it to manually do it the "correct" way that everyone else just does naturally.

I immediately disregarded everything they tried to teach me and refused to do my assigned homework for it so it didn't work. (Good. I never wanted it to.)

But I did get an anxiety induced stutter from it and heavy non-gender related vocal dysphoria that makes it so I have a panic attack if I hear my own voice. I hate having it recorded and if someone turns on speaker phone so my voice bounces back to me I can't talk to them.

I wish they taught me sign language instead. Or if even people had the patience for you to get out a pen and paper to switch to communicating with writing. Would've saved me a lot of trauma and internalized ableism,

i love you lisp i love you stutter i love you pressured speech i love you damaged vocal cords i love you aphasia i love you mutism i love you selective mutism i love you deaf voice i love you apraxia i love you speech delay i love you vocal tic i love you articulation disorder i love you sign language

i hate you societal norm to make fun of speech impediments i hate you “get it fixed” mentality i hate you mocking someone for the way they communicate i hate you “go to speech therapy so your kid won’t be bullied” i hate you i hate you i hate you