“Hi! Welcome to your favorite restaurant. What can I get for you today?” For most people, this basic conversation is nothing to write an article about. They order what they want, pay for their food, and continue on with their day. Yet for people who stutter, what we want to order might be different than what we can order. Let me explain.

Recently, “Bridgerton,” the Netflix hit in association with Shondaland based on Julia Quinn’s novel The Duke and I, broke records as people tuned in to watch a sexy duke and a high-profile family find love in gossipy, Regency-era London. But in modern society, would fluent people be open to listening to people who stutter—let alone consider people who stutter attractive?

This phrase has been around for decades and has been said in every possible venue: film, NFL press conferences, scripted and non-scripted television, commercials, gifs, memes, TikToks, everyday conversations, and tweets from politicians.

If I could l-l-look at my younger self dressed in a plaid red school uniform, I would tell her don’t, don’t be afraid.

Worldwide, more than 70 million people stutter. Here are nine things to know about stuttering supported by evidence-based research.

Survivor is my favorite TV show, as anyone who follows me on social media knows. I’ve been watching since I was 12 years old and have seen over fifty different seasons.