Stuttering

To the Editor: In the movie A Fish Called Wanda, a caper comedy embodying various styles of British humor, Ken (played by Michael Palin) is a stutterer who does funny things. Never mind the fact that he stutters where true stutterers would not (Ken stutters on every sound; real stutterers stutter at the beginning of sentences and phrases and on particular sound transitions). What is striking and deplorable is that a movie can belittle a stutterer, make stuttering appear funny, and not offend the audience's sensibilities. I contend that this would not be the case were stuttering viewed as a…