The Academic Oratory Tax Paid by Undergraduates as Persons Who Stutter

Abstract

This study highlights the nuanced ways ten undergraduate students who stutter can experience ableism. A critical framework of stuttering ableism at the community and public policy levels are used to interrogate how ableism oppresses persons who stutter. Inclusive language humanizes the experiences of participants who experienced an academic oratory tax and invisibility. Participants paid an academic oratory tax through co-curricular participation and felt invisible, being cast into material participation and passive involvement. Implications for practice include new ways of thinking about belonging for persons who stutter in college.