Growing up, I didn’t have anyone in my life who stuttered, or know anyone that sounded like me. The only representation I saw in the media was Porky Pig, the comedic relief in the Looney Tunes universe.
These facts caused my younger self to believe he was the only person out of seven billion people who talked that way, no one else “got it,” and his speech instantly qualified him to be the comic relief in every room he walked into.
I wish I had positive representations of people who sounded like me, truly understood what I was going through, and showed me that my voice does not instantly make me the room’s court jester.
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