Foundation Honors Press for Focus on Stuttering

For Immediate Release
Greg Wilson
greg@curleycompany.com
571-239-7474

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Oct. 25, 2016) — The Stuttering Foundation, www.StutteringHelp.org, announced the winners of its 2016 Awards for Excellence in Journalism today in celebration of International Stuttering Awareness Day.

"The more we talk about stuttering, the more we build support for the stuttering community," said Jane Fraser, president of the nonprofit Foundation. "The media, both traditional and digital, have the ability to start important conversations, inform the public, and inspire us all. This year we had dozens of worthy entries--selecting just a handful to honor was a difficult endeavor, but a terrific problem to have!"

This year, the Foundation has decided to bestow three levels of honor in each media category: winner, runner up and honorable mention. All entries ran or appeared between August 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016.

The 2016 awardees are:

PRINT (books/newspapers/magazines)

WINNER

Dennis Yohnka of The Daily Journal for Can ID cards help stutterers?

RUNNERS UP

Dr. Wallace of The News-Dispatch for Stuttering causes school woes
Brad Biggs of The Chicago Tribune for Bears’ Matt Slauson speaks up on and off the field

INTERNET (websites/blogs/e-publications)

WINNERS

ABC News for NBA legend Bill Walton’s career advice: ‘You Cannot Finish Unless You Start’
Kate Pickles of mailonline for Mother whose lifelong stammer left her terrified to work in an office now spends hours on the phone – thanks to speech therapy
Char Adams of people.com for Woman says she was detained in an Atlanta airport because of her speech impediment: ‘I felt like I had no control’

RUNNERS UP

Joseph Santoliquito on phillyvoice.com for Darren Sproles is 5-6 and he stutters – and that may be why he’s such a great football player
Hanae Armitage on news.sciencemag.org for ‘Stuttering’ mice shed light on human speech impediment
Kayleigh Skinner on commercialappeal.com for Stuttering Foundation makes free ID card available
Hal Berger on themighty.com for Why I chose to continue a high school presentation when my stutter was at its worst
Patrick Hanlon on huffingtonpost.co.uk for How embracing my stutter gave me a new lease on life

HONORABLE MENTION

Kate Simone on memphisdailynews.com for Stuttering Foundation’s Fraser Honored for Service
Johanna McDiarmid for One Plus One on abc.net.au for ‘Happiness thinker’ Professor Paul Dolan on pleasure, purpose and everyday happiness
Kylie Simmons on huffingtonpost.com for 8 things people who stutter are tired of hearing

ELECTRONIC MEDIA (Radio/TV/Streaming Video/Podcasts)

WINNER

Andrea Hsu on NPR – All Things Considered – Shots Health News for Baltimore Rx – Baltimore’s Leana Wen: A Doctor for the City

RUNNERS UP

CBS This Morning for “Dear Joe,” Vice President Joe Biden’s Note to Self
Peter Reitzes of StutterTalk.com for Stuttering and the Holidays with Nick Weaver

HONORABLE MENTION

Peter Reitzes of StutterTalk.com for The Physical Exhaustion of Stuttering – Sarah Berkowitz

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Foundation Spokesperson Jane Fraser
Jane Fraser is president of The Stuttering Foundation and co-author of If Your Child Stutters: A Guide for Parents, 8th edition. She is also vice president of the Action for Stammering Children, Michael Palin Centre in London.

About the Foundation
Malcolm Fraser, a successful businessman and stutterer, established and endowed the nonprofit Stuttering Foundation in 1947. The Stuttering Foundation provides a toll-free helpline, 800-992-9392, and free online resources at www.StutteringHelp.org, including services, referrals and support to people who stutter and their families, as well as support for research into the causes of stuttering.

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”