The Experience of Stigma in Adults Who Lisp

Abstract

This study focused on the experience of stigma in adults who self-identify as having a lisp. Data were gathered and analyzed using a mixed-methods methodology. This research design allowed for multiple data collection procedures, including quantitative surveys and rating scales, completed by both listeners and self-identified adults who lisp (SIAWLs) and qualitative semi-structured interviews of SIAWLs. These combined procedures allowed for the adherence to the theoretical appropriateness of qualitative approaches to stigma and disability and for the incorporation of quantitative objectivity.

The results of the quantitative data yielded varied conclusions regarding listener ratings of SIAWLs compared to SIAWLs’ ratings of themselves. These results also yielded varied conclusions regarding listener and SIAWL ratings of lisping stigma awareness, lisping stereotype agreement, and (SIAWLs only) stigma self-concurrence. Applied thematic analysis of the qualitative semi-structured interview responses yielded eleven superordinate themes. Each theme was examined for its possible association with public and self-stigma in the creation of a new model of reinforcement of structural stigma. These emergent themes supported Goffman’s stigma theory and the consideration of lisping as a minor bodily stigma. The integration of the qualitative and quantitative approaches allowed for in-depth illustrations of each interviewed individual SIAWL. This study emphasized the importance of considering the experience of the SIAWL as a highly personal one. These research findings have important implications for the value of using mixed-methods research designs to investigate, acknowledge, illuminate, and legitimize this personal and variable experience of stigma or lack thereof in adults who self-identify as speaking with a lisp.