Resisting Ableist Practices in Stuttering Therapy

In our article "Interrupting Ableism in Stuttering Therapy and Research" (on.asha.org/interrupt-ableism) in Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, we define it as: "The assumption that people are better off as able-bodied, without physical, mental, communication, or sensory impairments. An emphasis on therapy activities and outcomes that prioritize the speaker's experience with communication is one way to resist ableism in clinical practice- see the chart "Critical Analysis of Therapy Outcomes" above. 2. By acknowledging and resisting ableism's influence on clinical practice, SLPs can play an integral role in making the world a safer place to stutter. ® Hope Gerlach-Houck, PhD, CCC-SLP (she/her/hers), is an assistant professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo.