Because I Stutter

By Milton Horowitz

Bill Leinweber's essay in the Foundation's Summer 2012 issue inspired me to tell my story, in the hope that others, now dreading their lives as stutterers, will be comforted.

I'm a lifelong stutterer - now 81 years old and recently retired. As a youth I was protected by my parents, who ensured that I got therapy in "speech class," so called at the time. Therapy helped build my confidence mostly while I was in class. Outside, my struggles for breath while speaking continued pretty much unabated.

As did Mr. Leinweber, I took to writing, in a sense unafraid to speak to myself in private. I read a lot; soon I had a vocabulary of synonyms to help me avoid such terrifying plosives as p's and t's, letters and words that I learned to dread as I gasped for breath, waiting to speak with pounding heart, dry mouth, and tightened throat.

I thought to get through my work life as an editor, to be let alone to sit and edit in silence. But that was not to be for long. I was promoted to supervise staff. I learned to break up speeches with visual aides - flip charts, slides, overhead transparencies - giving "chalk talks." Managing book publishing departments, I kept at hand the visual aides that reduced my difficulties while talking to an audience.

Stuttering taught me to prepare for my assignments, to rehearse my talks. An extensive vocabulary not only helped me as an editor; it also eased me around those words that interfered with my breathing and shook my confidence.

I'm retired now, mindful that I've had a satisfying personal and business life. I hope that other stutterers will take heart from my story, determined to get on with their lives.

From the Fall 2012 Newsletter

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.

Ken Venturi

As much of the nation watches the U.S. Open Golf Championship, it is impossible not to think about our late friend Ken Venturi. Ken overcame many challenges to win the Open at Congressional in 1964 and go on to become the voice of golf for more than three decades.

However, Ken faced no bigger obstacle than stuttering. Ken Venturi was a champion to those who stutter, going out of his way to share his personal experience when consulted by a colleague, friend, or child who stutters.

Darren Sproles

Darren Sproles, a former player for The Philadelphia Eagles, the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers, made history in 2007 when he became the first player in NFL history to return a kickoff and a punt for his first two NFL touchdowns in the same game. In 2021, he was selected to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

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.

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.