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I Stutter. This Is What You’re Not Hearing.

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I Stutter. This Is What You’re Not Hearing.

Aug. 23, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET
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Video by James Robinson

Mr. Robinson is a filmmaker.

“Adapt-Ability” is an Opinion Video series inviting you to confront discomfort with disability.

John Hendrickson stutters. He has stuttered nearly his entire life.

And in the Opinion video above, Mr. Hendrickson, working with the filmmaker James Robinson, explores the obstacles and emotional burden of his condition and explains the coping strategies and workarounds he has devised to make it through the day in a world that demands that we speak up and speak clearly.

The film suggests that the problem may lie not with people who stutter but with a society that is largely unprepared or disinclined to accommodate them.

This is the second in a three-part Opinion Video series by Mr. Robinson that profiles people with disabilities. The first, about a woman with retinitis pigmentosa, was published last week. The third, featuring a man who has prosopagnosia — or face blindness — will be published next week. Mr. Robinson also made “Whale Eyes,” an Emmy Award-nominated film we published last year that explores his experiences living with an array of disabling eye conditions.

James Robinson (@ByJamesRobinson) is a filmmaker.

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