I was not hired because I speak slowly.

Interviews suck. You could get turned down for speaking too fast, too!

Anyone who thinks they're making sane hiring decisions based on conventional job interviews with developers is deluding themselves.

From just the circumstances you've described, obviously they made a dumb decision. They're allowed to make dumb decisions, though, unless your slow speech is related to a disability.

Interviews are the sole reason I started to do consulting. Guess what? Three times the money, more flexibility, and less headaches.

The company told you that?

eh....companies say the darndest things.....I was rejected for a job a while ago because I preferred VIM over Sublime Text during my pair coding interview. Apparently, I didn't have the "right experience with their toolset". c'est la vie. Sometimes they just need "a reason" to not hire you because they just don't think you'd fit in.

It depends on how it came off. If it sounded like you were talking slowly as a way of talking down to them, I probably wouldn't want to work with you either. A lot of developers can come off as demeaning, and this can be compounded by insecurity by the interviewers (if they think you're a better developer then they'll be more sensitive to you being uppity).

Otherwise, it could just be that you seemed like you were too slow moving for a fast paced environment. If I pop my head into your door and say "Hey, how do you feel about XYZ?" (looking for a one or two word answer) and you take 10 minutes to answer, that's not ideal.

I'm sorry this happened, but I have an anecdote that might cheer you up. A friend was flown out to Silicon Valley and put up in a hotel after completing their programming challenges. He was rejected because of just how bad his anti-social mannerisms were. Well that hurt him a lot, but a few months later, he did find a job.

If your speech is the type of thing you can work on, work on it. If it is something more medical that you can't control, think about mentioning it up front. I'm sure you'll get a job in a month or so if your technical skills are there. Don't sweat it, even if this seems is an utter kick in the gut.