| Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter

May 12, 2023

Ask Me Anything

Blogger James Hayden takes to social media to answers questions about stuttering.

5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Stuttering

Monday, May 8, marks the beginning of National Stuttering Awareness Week, a weeklong spotlight on the condition affecting more than 80 million people worldwide.

April 12, 2023

Every one of us go through periods where we feel overwhelmed by life, adverse situations, and our professional careers. Everyone experiences adversity, but why do some of us succeed? Why do some of us overcome, while others fall apart in ruin?

April 5, 2023

The Look

If you're a person who stutters, I don't need to describe "the look" to you. You know exactly what I'm talking about.

Just Rose and That’s Good Enough

The most valuable lesson I have learned along my life’s journey is that I am good enough just the way I am.

Where Are They Now? An Update On Francy

It’s been 10 years since we first met singer Francois "Francy" Goudreault

February 7, 2023

Grace in Advocacy

If you were to make a recipe for advocacy, what would your ingredients be? For me, this recipe is missing what I think is the most important ingredient of them all: grace.

December 29, 2022

A Crisis of Identity

A blog by Jordan Northrup
Who am I? Am I Marine? Was I a drunk? Was I a failed husband? Am I a Christian? Am I a stutterer? The answer is that I am all those things and probably more that I haven’t yet discovered, but I am not bound by my attributes.

December 7, 2022

What Taking a Hiatus from Advocacy Taught Me About Advocacy

What does being an advocate mean to you? According to the Merrian-Webster Dictionary, an advocate is “a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.”

The Clinical Utility of Self-Disclosure and Voluntary Stuttering

Presented by Courtney Byrd

"Absolutely wonderful. Dr. Byrd is an excellent, informative speaker and the presentation was perfect."-SLP

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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.

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.

Bob Love

The late Bob Love 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.

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.

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.