More News | Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter

November 11, 2018
W. Somerset Maugham
Somerset Maugham was the most famous writer in the world. He was known everywhere for his superb short stories and for his novels.
October 10, 2018
New Ways to Work with Attitudes and Emotion
Imagine a therapy that makes no attempt to reduce symptoms, but gets symptom reduction as a byproduct.
October 10, 2018
Creating a Meaningful Message
Akiva Splaver wrote his first book as a high school student. His inspiring narrative was driven by his own experiences of isolation, trial, and ultimate victory over stuttering.
October 10, 2018
Famous Screenwriter Who Stuttered Wrote the Screenplay for A Star Is Born
This weekend will mark the highly anticipated release of A Star Is Born, starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.
August 08, 2018
Rabinowitz Leaves a Legacy in the Animal and Stuttering Communities
It is with a heavy heart and immense sadness that the Stuttering Foundation announces the death of our longtime board member, spokesman and friend, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz.
August 08, 2018
Remembering Alan Rabinowitz
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Stuttering Foundation Board Member Dr. Alan Rabinowitz.
August 08, 2018
It’s Time for This to Stop
Stuttering is the only disability that people still laugh at — too often in the face of a person struggling to speak fluently.
July 07, 2018
Stuttering in a Fluency World
When I was 18, speech therapist John Seamon, told me, “Don’t let stuttering control you. You control it.”
July 07, 2018
The Stutterer's Apprentice
At just 17 years old, Akiva Splaver wrote his first book, which is already a No. 1 best seller on Amazon.
July 07, 2018
One World, Many Voices
The inaugural Joint World Congress will be held July 13-16, 2018, in Hiroshima, Japan. Be sure to visit the Stuttering Foundation booth!

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

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.

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.

John Stossel

John Stossel is one of the most recognized and articulate reporters today. However, he once considered giving up his broadcasting career because of his stuttering.

“Fear of stuttering can easily become worse than the stuttering itself,” observed Stossel. “The idea that I’m on television and making speeches is still a shock to me sometimes.”

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.

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.