Donna

Yet you are quite articulate on OCF. My speech impediment is not as severe, probably because I can wear my palate drop prothesis which clips into grooves cut out of my upper incisor teeth. But I can empathize. I was a "silver tongued devil" before TX, and while I no longer am mistaken for a stroke victim, sounding like Elmer Fudd is not much better after over a year of speech therapy.
No, I'm not mute, and I shouldn't be complaining when others have lost their voice entirely. Heck, I wanted to retire anyway so it's not like your situation either. But I had hoped I could do some speaking & consulting. That's why Dr. Brook's stories about conferences which had him as a speaker for years dropped him and not one place he did give a speech with his post cancer voice ever had him return struck me.
What I'm trying to say Donna is that the hard sad truth is even if people could understand you better, they'd still be biased and treat you poorly. It's a wicked world we live in. Yet I know you can rise above it. Plus voice calls are soon to be passe, supplanted entirely by Tweets, texts, & emails. On the Internet, no one knows you have a speech impediment.
Keep the Faith
Charm