The Quarantine and Stuttering

Blog by Jane Fraser
May 5, 2020

For some people, the quarantine associated with the pandemic may be very difficult to handle: emotionally, physically, and financially. Spending days, weeks, perhaps months trapped “inside” takes its toll.

The telephone may be the only way you can reach the outside world. But, the telephone is almost always the thing that people who stutter dread the most.

If you block on a word, the person at the other end of the line may just hang up on you or ask you what’s wrong? During a ‘shelter in place,’ using the phone may be the only way you can communicate with your friends, with colleagues at work, or with clerks to order groceries.

Even those who have decided to “stutter openly” without concerns about the opinions of others can face the hardships when talking on the phone, ordering at a restaurant, applying for a job, or asking for a date.

Imagine if this temporary quarantine was ours to carry with us each day, every day — appearing whenever we were tired, stressed or confronted. For many who stutter, this is just another day in their life.

Related brochure: Using the Telephone

CELEBRITY FOCUS

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.

Alan Rabinowitz

Alan Rabinowitz, Ph.D., who passed away in 2018, was an explorer, wildlife conservationist, and author. He established the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve in northern Myanmar, which is about the size of the state of Vermont.

His love for animals began when he was very young.

Marilyn Monroe

From Edward S. Herrington's letter to Southcoasttoday.com

I am writing in response to "The importance of voice" (May 29), which mentioned that famous actor James Earl Jones struggled with stuttering. Another famous voice that you cited was the trademark breathy voice of Marilyn Monroe; however, you did not make mention of the fact that Marilyn Monroe also struggled with stuttering at various points in her life, sometimes very painfully.

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.

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.