Examining the understandings of young adult South African men who stutter: The question of disability.
Dane Isaacs, Leslie Swartz
PMID 35819307WHAT IT FOUND
South African men who stutter described their speech as a disability when social barriers limited their careers or independence.
They rejected the label when they could control their speech or pass as fluent. The distinction between a medical defect and a social disability depended on the individual's ability to navigate societal expectations.
Key findings
01Participants who identified stuttering as a disability often did so because of social exclusion, such as avoiding public transport or cafeteria use, rather than the speech disfluency itself.
02Professional men frequently rejected a disabled identity to protect their career prospects, fearing that accepting the label would signal weakness or dependency in the workplace.
03Viewing stuttering as a controllable condition rather than a disability was often reinforced by participation in self-help programmes that emphasized breathing techniques and personal agency.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample consisted of only 15 men, all of whom had high education levels, limiting the transferability of findings to women, people with lower socioeconomic status, or other cultural contexts. The study focused on South African men, so the specific intersection of masculinity and stuttering may not apply to other gender or cultural groups. The first author's insider status as a person who stutters may have influenced the analysis, although steps were taken to mitigate this through external review.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. The study was funded by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that all clients who stutter view their condition as a disability. Some may actively resist this label to maintain a sense of control or professional credibility, and imposing a disability framework on them could be counterproductive to the therapeutic alliance.