{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "id": "CC-038",
  "title": "How did stuttering affect my choices at work?",
  "topic": "Work, school and relationships",
  "author": {
    "name": "Craig Coffee",
    "id": "https://usedtostutter.com/craig-coffee#person"
  },
  "canonical_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/jobs-for-people-who-stutter",
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  "context_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/about-this-material",
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  "source_markdown": "# How did stuttering affect my choices at work?\n\nBy [Craig Coffee](/craig-coffee)\n\nA lot of the cost was in things I didn't try. Chances I let slip away because I was scared. People didn't always have to tell me no; I had already taken myself out of it.\n\n[I looked at work through my speech](/covert-stuttering-avoidance). How much talking would I have to do? I have also described feeling passed over for promotions. Those feelings were part of the life I was trying to change.\n\n## I wanted my speech at work\n\nA meeting, a call, speaking with my boss or a client: those were situations I wanted to handle. When someone important asked me to speak, I knew the feeling of my heart dropping.\n\nI worked on [using my voice early in a meeting](/stuttering-in-meetings). I wrote down personal details people mentioned so I had something real to ask them the next time. I was doing that for my speech.\n\n## Sometimes the task arrived quickly\n\nOn one process-improvement project, a senior person told the three of us we would be presenting at the company's town halls. We had four days. It turned into [seven panels over two days](/stuttering-at-work-presentations).\n\nI was nervous and worked hard. Between sessions, I took a few minutes for my music before going back. I wanted the work I'd been doing on my speech to be there when a situation like that came.\n\nThat was why I kept testing what I learned in actual work situations: applying for jobs, presenting to colleagues, making calls. I wanted to be able to use it.\n\n## A participant described a job he once would not have considered\n\nCrimson, a police officer I spoke with in a group call, told me he still had difficult days and still stuttered, including at work. He said his job knew and was fine with it.\n\nHe said this was a job he once would not have thought of doing. Being out, talking with people and answering their questions mattered to him. His words were: “I need to go out there. I need to talk with people. And I need to be around people. And then have them ask me stuff.”\n\n> **Crimson:** And then answer those questions.\n\n## A caller described somebody else telling him no\n\nA caller from Oman told me about an opportunity to become a commercial pilot. He said he had been told they didn't want somebody who stuttered. I was sorry to hear it. So much of my own cost had been the risks I didn't take or opportunities I let go before somebody could tell me no.\n\n> **Craig:** a lot of mine was things I did not do risks I did not take or chances I let slip through my hands but with you you actually got a real no\n\nHe also told me what he wanted to do next: cybersecurity, the direction he had wanted to pursue as a child. The pilot opportunity had excited him, and he described being hurt when it ended. He was now talking about a different direction he wanted for himself.\n\n## Related answers\n\n- [What do I write down before another client conversation?](/stuttering-with-customers-and-clients)\n- [How did I learn to feel more confident before speaking?](/confidence-before-speaking)\n- [What did I tell someone who was worried about a job interview?](/stuttering-job-interview)\n- [Why could a work call feel harder when other people could hear me?](/stuttering-when-people-overhear-phone-calls)\n\n[Find your question](/questions)\n",
  "relative_link_base": "https://usedtostutter.com/jobs-for-people-who-stutter",
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      "source_markdown": "A lot of the cost was in things I didn't try. Chances I let slip away because I was scared. People didn't always have to tell me no; I had already taken myself out of it.\n\n[I looked at work through my speech](/covert-stuttering-avoidance). How much talking would I have to do? I have also described feeling passed over for promotions. Those feelings were part of the life I was trying to change.\n\n",
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      "id": "i-wanted-my-speech-at-work",
      "heading": "I wanted my speech at work",
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      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/jobs-for-people-who-stutter#i-wanted-my-speech-at-work",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## I wanted my speech at work\n\nA meeting, a call, speaking with my boss or a client: those were situations I wanted to handle. When someone important asked me to speak, I knew the feeling of my heart dropping.\n\nI worked on [using my voice early in a meeting](/stuttering-in-meetings). I wrote down personal details people mentioned so I had something real to ask them the next time. I was doing that for my speech.\n\n",
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      "heading": "Sometimes the task arrived quickly",
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      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/jobs-for-people-who-stutter#sometimes-the-task-arrived-quickly",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## Sometimes the task arrived quickly\n\nOn one process-improvement project, a senior person told the three of us we would be presenting at the company's town halls. We had four days. It turned into [seven panels over two days](/stuttering-at-work-presentations).\n\nI was nervous and worked hard. Between sessions, I took a few minutes for my music before going back. I wanted the work I'd been doing on my speech to be there when a situation like that came.\n\nThat was why I kept testing what I learned in actual work situations: applying for jobs, presenting to colleagues, making calls. I wanted to be able to use it.\n\n",
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      "id": "a-participant-described-a-job-he-once-would-not-have-considered",
      "heading": "A participant described a job he once would not have considered",
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      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/jobs-for-people-who-stutter#a-participant-described-a-job-he-once-would-not-have-considered",
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      "source_markdown": "## A participant described a job he once would not have considered\n\nCrimson, a police officer I spoke with in a group call, told me he still had difficult days and still stuttered, including at work. He said his job knew and was fine with it.\n\nHe said this was a job he once would not have thought of doing. Being out, talking with people and answering their questions mattered to him. His words were: “I need to go out there. I need to talk with people. And I need to be around people. And then have them ask me stuff.”\n\n> **Crimson:** And then answer those questions.\n\n",
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    {
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      "heading": "A caller described somebody else telling him no",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/jobs-for-people-who-stutter#a-caller-described-somebody-else-telling-him-no",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## A caller described somebody else telling him no\n\nA caller from Oman told me about an opportunity to become a commercial pilot. He said he had been told they didn't want somebody who stuttered. I was sorry to hear it. So much of my own cost had been the risks I didn't take or opportunities I let go before somebody could tell me no.\n\n> **Craig:** a lot of mine was things I did not do risks I did not take or chances I let slip through my hands but with you you actually got a real no\n\nHe also told me what he wanted to do next: cybersecurity, the direction he had wanted to pursue as a child. The pilot opportunity had excited him, and he described being hurt when it ended. He was now talking about a different direction he wanted for himself.\n\n",
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      "heading": "Related answers",
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      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/jobs-for-people-who-stutter#related-answers",
      "role": "navigation",
      "source_markdown": "## Related answers\n\n- [What do I write down before another client conversation?](/stuttering-with-customers-and-clients)\n- [How did I learn to feel more confident before speaking?](/confidence-before-speaking)\n- [What did I tell someone who was worried about a job interview?](/stuttering-job-interview)\n- [Why could a work call feel harder when other people could hear me?](/stuttering-when-people-overhear-phone-calls)\n",
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}