Redefining “overcoming stuttering” (when you can’t not stutter)
I have fully accepted the fact that I will always stutter in a fashion that is immediately obvious to anyone who hears me say more than three or four consecutive words, and as such I have been forced to redefine the traditional notion of what success means. I therefore want to broaden the definition of “overcoming stuttering” to celebrate not only those who have succeeded by ceasing to stutter, but those of us who have made their way in the world while continuing to stutter. It is not a choice to have a disability but it is a choice to be disabled by it.
About the speaker
Catherine is a physicist and software engineer who has had a long career (30+ years) of studying the importance of clouds in the climate system by generating and analyzing satellite data, most of which has been spent at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (California Institute of Technology/NASA). Despite having lived a long time in the US, she considers Canada to be her home and is an alumnus and former staff member at both McGill University and University of Toronto. She has been active in the national and international stuttering communities since the early 1990s and has served on the CSA Board of Directors as Secretary from 2019, with no end date in sight.