Some Words From Our Blogger Voon Pang

Hello everyone, my name is Voon Pang and I have been blogging for the Stuttering Foundation since August of this year. I am a Speech Language Pathologist working for the Stuttering Treatment and Research Trust in Auckland, New Zealand. Prior to writing for the SFA, I had no experience in blogging (disclaimer – check!) though I have an interest in social media and running a group forum for SLPs. I feel very privileged to be part of the SFA family even though I’m about 8,000 miles away and 19 hours ahead of the main headquarters. Jane Fraser and the team have been amazing in supporting me in this endeavour, and as with learning anything new, it will take a while for me to find my feet but in the meantime I hope that I’m doing an OK job for you all.

A bit about me… I graduated from Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia at the end of 2006 with a degree in human communication science (or speech language pathology). Since graduating, my passion and interest in stuttering has taken me to various places around the world. I was fortunate enough to attend a SFA training workshop in 2009 in Boston at Boston University (and again in 2011), which is where I met Jane. In 2010, I visited the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in London and am due to visit again in the summer of 2013. This year, I was able to experience my first American camp and attended Camp Shout Out in Muskegon, Michigan! There have been many colleagues and clients, past and present, who have influenced my thinking around stuttering. Without the foot-in-the-door experience of the first SFA workshop, I’d doubt that I would be where I am today.

The blog is my way of ‘giving back’ and providing a voice to those who stutter. I hope you will continue to follow my journey and join in at stutteringhelp.org/blog.

Check it out every now and then, leave a comment or two and let the Stuttering Foundation know if you would like me to write a piece on a particular topic.

Until next time,

Voon

From the 2013 Winter Newsletter

CELEBRITY FOCUS

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.

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.

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, is well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones has spoken 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.

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.

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.