Overcoming My Stutter

Blog by James Hayden
April 1,2019

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word overcome as, “to get the better of; to succeed in dealing with a problem or difficulty.”

What does it mean to overcome stuttering? Some might say the only way to overcome stuttering is by becoming fluent. Others might say that overcoming stuttering means not letting your stutter mute your voice. While others might say it means making the best of the situation. Yet others may have their own definition.

For me, my definition of the phrase has changed over time. A few years ago, I would have defined overcoming my stutter as being fluent. No alternate definitions were possible. If someone tried to provide an alternate, then I would’ve looked as if they had said the referees made the right decision in not calling pass interference or helmet-to-helmet on LA Rams corner Nickell Robey-Coleman’s hit on New Orleans Saint Tommylee Lewis (Yes, I’m still not over it). Currently, I define overcoming my stutter as not letting hold me back from what I want to say. I define overcoming my stutter as not letting it hold me back from doing whatever I want to accomplish and seeing the beauty in it. The beauty of my stutter has brought me things I could never imagine. Because I stutter, I'm an author. Because I stutter, I'm given the opportunity to talk to future SLPs about stuttering and my journey with it. Because I stutter, I have opportunities to be the person I needed when I was younger.

In short, I think I have overcome my stutter. Every day, I make the best of situation, use my voice to say what I want to say, and accomplish what I want to accomplish. For that, I am a better person. To paraphrase the great Dr. K, "I've turned a sour lemon into something resembling lemonade."

CELEBRITY FOCUS

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lewis Carroll

The recent Disney version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland, garnered a great deal of media hype. Even though the mainstream media has not made mention that Carroll was a person who stuttered, his family history gives credence to the discovery of the genetic link to stuttering. Carroll was born to parents who were first cousins; almost all of their eleven children, three girls and seven boys, struggled with stuttering past childhood.