In 1999, a Task Force consisting of research and policy-oriented
SLPs, people who stutter, and an epidemiologist (Ken St. Louis,
Bobbie Lubker, Scott Yaruss, Jaan Pill, and Charles Diggs,
respectively) convened to develop the first prototype of a
questionnaire to measure attitudes toward stuttering. Known as
the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes (POSHA-E), it is
handled like public opinion polls from a national polling
organization, with respondents selected at random. Participants
first answer baseline questions before filling out a demographic
survey. Finally, they respond to follow up questions. Here are
examples of the most recent experimental version of the POSHA-E.
It asks the respondents their overall impression of a person who
is in one of nine categories: "left handed, mentally ill, obese,
addicted to alcohol, has a stuttering disorder, is multilingual,
has epilepsy, has HIV/AIDS, or uses a wheelchair." The
respondents give their impression of the person, ranging from
very negative, somewhat