Happy International Stuttering Awareness Day Everyone!

Blog by Voon Pang
October 22, 2012

One of my good SLP mates (and person who stutters) posted on his Facebook the perfect summary International Stuttering Awareness Day by saying “People who stutter have a voice, and have something to say. I like to think they were put on this earth to teach the world how to listen.” Thank you Eric for reminding us the ‘gift’ of stuttering! I’d like to jump on the bandwagon and encourage you to do something to raise the profile of stuttering/stammering (be it via Facebook, Twitter or some other forum)

This year, my workplace decided to run an online Facebook competition to those who liked our page. One of our board members, a person who stutters, helped us out by getting his work to donate $50 gift vouchers as prizes to those who entered the draw. Last year, my colleague and I invited five children who stutter and their families to have ice cream with former international rugby player, Royce Willies, on the eve of the Rugby World Cup final (New Zealanders love their rugby!). Our story made the news in some of our local newspapers! Across the Atlantic, the British Stammering Association sell green wristbands to raise awareness.

What have you or your workplace done this year to celebrate International Stuttering Awareness Day? Share your stories by commenting below!

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Winston Churchill

Seeking to "remove Winston Churchill's stutter by second guessing the diagnosis" indicates neither a truthful retelling of history nor an informed opinion about a complex speech disorder, say experts in the field of speech-language pathology.

Recent news reports that quote Dr. John Mather, a Washington physician, as saying that Churchill's stutter "is a lie" brought adamant critical response from specialists in the field of stuttering and fluency disorders.

Bill Withers

While Bill Withers has long been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter, many people probably didn’t realize he stuttered. He passed away on March 30, 2020.

Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, W.V., Withers was the youngest of six children. When his father died when Withers was small, he was raised by his mother and grandmother, both of whom worked as domestics.

Dave Taylor

Dave Taylor has been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter for many years, but probably few people know all of the unique accomplishments of this former hockey great who was born on December 4, 1955, in Levack, Ontario.

Bob Love

Bob Love has dreamt about being a great public speaker since his early days in Bastrop Louisiana, even though, as a young man, he could barely put two words together, let alone speak a full sentence.

In spite of his severe stuttering disability, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls NBA superstar, whose records were eventually surpassed by Michael Jordan. Throughout his entire athletic career, Bob Love kept his stuttering a secret from the fans who adored him, thinking he could do his “talking” on the basketball court.

Kenyon Martin

Kenyon Martin, the basketball sensation who was named to the NBA’s All Star Team in 2004, joins other famous people who stutter in a new brochure. The brochure - which unfolds into a small poster - is available free of charge from The Stuttering Foundation.

The poster is intended to give children and adults who stutter inspiration as they grapple with their speech disorder.