| Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter

Using Voluntary Stuttering to Empower Children Who Stutter

Presented by Joseph Donaher

Meet Dongmyung Ahn

"Stuttering doesn’t need to keep you from doing what you love, or keep you from making friends..."

Carol Kaye: Legendary American Musician & Bass Player

Women and girls who stutter have a role model in Carol Kaye, whose brilliant and highly documented 65-year of immense success speaks for itself.

Meet Shalom Goodman

"I don’t like the term successful, since most people equate success with money. I feel that success is the constant struggle to do what is right."

Creed Bratton

When people who stutter watch The Office, they can take pride in knowing that this multi-talented individual is a fellow person who stutters.

Peggy Lipton: Hollywood Icon & Stuttering Pioneer

She was one of the first modern women celebrities who was open about her stuttering and a definite role model.

Most Exciting Thing in the Stuttering Community: Van Riper Tapes

While the recordings are several decades old, the ideas are anything but outdated.

What is Stuttering?

A Close Look at the Actual Speech Disruptions

Meet Mitch Guerra from Survivor

"You have to surround yourself with people who are going to encourage you to do the crazy things that no one thinks are possible."

Fall 2025 Magazine

Meet Mitch Guerra from Survivor, read letters from kids, and much more in our latest edition.

Pages

CELEBRITY FOCUS

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.

Jack Paar

While Jack Paar is among the most prominent of the entertainers on the Stuttering Foundation’s list of Famous People Who Stutter, he deserves special recognition as he was among the first to openly address his stuttering in public. As host of The Tonight Show from 1957-1962, he spoke of his difficulties as a stuttering child and teenager, giving hope to young people.

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.

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.

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.