Blogs

December 7, 2022

What Taking a Hiatus from Advocacy Taught Me About Advocacy

What does being an advocate mean to you? According to the Merrian-Webster Dictionary, an advocate is “a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.”

April 20, 2022

What I Want to Say vs What I Can Say

“Hi! Welcome to your favorite restaurant. What can I get for you today?” For most people, this basic conversation is nothing to write an article about. They order what they want, pay for their food, and continue on with their day. Yet for people who stutter, what we want to order might be different than what we can order. Let me explain.

March 25, 2022

Stuttering and "Bridgerton"

Recently, “Bridgerton,” the Netflix hit in association with Shondaland based on Julia Quinn’s novel The Duke and I, broke records as people tuned in to watch a sexy duke and a high-profile family find love in gossipy, Regency-era London. But in modern society, would fluent people be open to listening to people who stutter—let alone consider people who stutter attractive?

February 4, 2022

Getting Rid of “Did I Stutter?”

This phrase has been around for decades and has been said in every possible venue: film, NFL press conferences, scripted and non-scripted television, commercials, gifs, memes, TikToks, everyday conversations, and tweets from politicians.

December 15, 2021

Stuttering Was There, But I Didn’t Care

By this point in our relationship, dear reader, I think it’s safe to say you know I’m a superfan of the TV show Survivor.

November 4, 2021

My Medical Records and Stuttering

Talking to others in both the medical community and the stuttering community, stuttering and how to interact with patients who stutter are rarely discussed.

June 9, 2021

3 Must-See Videos from the Our YouTube Channel

Our materials now reach 138 countries around the world. Some of our most popular videos are available on YouTube.

June 1, 2021

To the Young Person Who Stutters

I'm going to share with you a half dozen or so ideas. If you embrace any one of them, your life will improve.

May 19, 2021

New Book by Miss Plano

Fiona the Fearless Fox shares a message of courage, confidence, and most importantly, fearlessness.

May 10, 2021

Celebrating National Stuttering Awareness Week

National Stuttering Awareness Week is an opportunity to spotlight the condition that affects more than 70 million people worldwide.

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

Byron Pitts

Byron Pitts has brought much attention to stuttering with his memoir, Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges, released in September, 2009. The book not only details his speech difficulties, but also his illiteracy until age 12 and his unstable family life. Pitts overcame the odds to become the chief national correspondent with ABC News.

Jack Paar

While Jack Paar is among the most prominent of the entertainers on the Stuttering Foundation’s list of Famous People Who Stutter, he deserves special recognition as he was among the first to openly address his stuttering in public. As host of The Tonight Show from 1957-1962, he spoke of his difficulties as a stuttering child and teenager, giving hope to young people.

Frank Wolf

This Virginian congressman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation drew national attention to childhood stuttering in 2006 when he submitted an article about Tiger Woods from the SFA newsletter to the Congressional Record. The congressman is featured in the Stuttering Foundation's Famous People Who Stutter brochure.

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, was well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones spoke some of the most memorable lines in the history of American film, but the man known for his voice was once afflicted with a severe stutter.

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.