Netherlands Conference Draws a Crowd

This is an interview with Stuttering Foundation Board member Celia Gruss, who ran an informational booth at the 10th World Congress for People Who Stutter in June in the Netherlands. The event attracted people from across the globe.

Q. What were your impressions of the World Congress?

A. My first impression was the beautiful location. Lunteren is next to a forest National Park. Second, the size of the congress building was perfect, not too big, where you can feel lost, and not too small, where everyone is “on top of each other.” Last, the service and organization were outstanding. I enjoyed meeting people during the lunches and delicious butter cookie and tea breaks as well! All in all, the Congress was a very pleasant one, a gathering of people who really cared about stuttering.

Q. Is it true you sold the shirt off your back? To whom? How did it happen?

A. It's true! There was an Italian woman who stuttered and explained that many of her family members did as well. She wanted the T-shirt, but I had to wait for the last day because it was part of my booth decoration. So on the last day at lunch I wore it. I thought wearing it might get the booth and the Stuttering Foundation some attention. I also wanted to show how good it looked! I walked around the dining room until I found the Italian woman. She thought it looked a little small for her. Since she’d told me her nephew stuttered, I suggested she get it for him. At that point, I sold the shirt off my back!

Q. Businessman Tim Fell was an attendee. Did the way he didn’t let stuttering stop him in the business world remind you of your grandfather?

A. Yes it sure did and I told him so. I was sorry to miss his keynote speech, but I couldn’t leave the booth.

Q. What do you think your grandfather, Malcolm Fraser, would have thought had he been able to attend the World Congress?

A. He would have thought it was marvelous and that things had gone a long way since “the early days.”

Q. Were any products more popular than others?

A. The most popular were the books & DVDs.

Q. What was your most interesting experience at the World Congress?

A. My most interesting experience was in the very first hour I got there. I was scrambling to get the booth up as quickly as possible, and before a speech was finishing in a room right next to me. I wanted to get a picture on Facebook quickly! I had just finished when out poured all these people from the speech room. Five enthusiastic people from Japan, one of them Shinji Ito, executive director of the Japan Stuttering Project, came straight to me with interest in the booth and admiration toward my grandfather, Malcolm Fraser. I took some pictures with them and put the pictures up on Facebook! I had just arrived, and right then and there, felt welcomed and thought surely our booth will be useful to others as well.

From the Fall 1013 Newsletter

CELEBRITY FOCUS

King George

In November 2010, worldwide movie audiences were presented with a most interesting and unusual movie release with The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Helena Bonham Carter as his wife Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, history may have forgotten the courageous and inspiring story of Prince Albert who stuttered badly and never dreamed that he would ever be king when his older brother, King Edward VIII, abruptly abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.

Bruce Willis

While the world knows Bruce Willis as an A-list actor, few know that he struggled with stuttering throughout his first 20 years.

Walter Bruce Willis was born in 1955 in West Germany to his German mother, Marlene, and his American GI father, David Willis. The family settled in David’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957, and the couple has three other children.

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.

Emily Blunt

Actress Emily Blunt struggled with stuttering early in her life. A teacher encouraged her to act in a school play at age 12 despite her stuttering.

Blunt’s name is prominently featured on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter.

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.