Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Who are the real heros to be honored?






Anonymous said...

Well said. Adaptation and coping require pushing a cart, each day, up a hill. Some days, the hill is less steep than others.

Pam said...

I have also wondered why Emily Blunt has got so much attention. Before being courted by AIS, she there was a big story about her in Parade Magazine. She is fluent.

For the same reasons you state, I often wonder why such a big deal is made about Famous People Who Stutter,and the posters that are made. Tiger Woods, Bruce Willis, etc. In chatting with Peter and Eric,and another time with Greg, I had suggested we come up with a poster of Ordinary people living Extraordinary lives, stuttering and getting on with life.

For National Stuttering Awareness Week last month, I visited a middle school, and did a slide show about stuttering, what it is, yada yada. For pictures, I had ordinary looking kids,no names,no fame. I asked the kids if they knew who they were, or who did they look like. The kids had no clue. And that was the point.

Kids who stutter look just like kids who don't stutter, and that point made more sense than Tiger Woods, who 99% of kids will never be. Ordinary people talking about stuttering and leading authentic lives, thats what its all about.

Right now, AIS has a couple of vid clips of Roisin, who has also been on Stuttertalk. She is a young college student studying to be a nurse, and leading her life. She wants to gain some control of her stuttering. I hope her story is followed and and given as much PR as Blunt and Biden, whether she does or doesn't become more fluent.

People who walk the walk everyday are real everyday heros.
Eric, Peter, Greg, you, and the other bloggers and podcasters out there who do this just to make a difference, that counts.

I have talked to some people lately on Skype from England and Germany, and been in email contact with a woman from Trinindad. We all stutter, and all share the same worries, fears, tears and triumphs, big and small. It's the emotional connection of ordinary people who get it. Not the stars!

I will climb off the pedestal now.
Thanks for your honesty and for bringing it up.

Daniele said...

Hear! Hear! I'm tired of hearing about celebrities who never stutter in front of a camera. Not very good role models indeed. Sure, it's nice to see that you can still become rich and famous but where's the audible street cred? All I see are role models for covert stuttering, avoidance or stutterers who happen to cease stuttering on stage. Well done, Tom. Great post.

Anonymous said...

Let's face it, very few people have ever heard of organisations like the AIS and BSA, so the impact of honouring Emily Blunt and Joe Biden has very little relevance. A friend of mine in the U.S is a stutterer and also a lecturer in political science. When I happened to mention to him that Joe Biden was a childhood stutterer, he was surprised. By the way, Emily Blunt's wikipedia entry does not mention stuttering. Same goes for Carly Simon, Charles Darwin, and Isaac Newton. Bruce Willis and Joe Biden rate only a very brief mention of stuttering in wikipedia.
So the bottom line is that nobody cares that these people stutter/stuttered ... well, maybe the stutterers care a lot.

But if these organisations (AIS, BSA, etc) want to honour somebody, it doesn't have to be an actor or politician or internet activist (like Snyder, Eric, etc). Why can't it be the ordinary stutterer in the street? I know people that have done very well in life *despite* having severe stutters. For example, I know a guy who runs a successful business, has raised 2 children, and enjoys life to the fullest, despite having a very noticeable stutter. Isn't he a great role-model for a young kid with a stutter?

Anonymous said...

Great post!

Anonymous said...


This is a great idea. Good luck with it!

Peter Reitzes

Leys Geddes said...

Anon, the BSA is creating awareness of stammering, not itself. The BSA has never wanted to honour a recovered stammerer. And the BSA and the AIS are very different things, so it is strange to bracket the two of them together.


Triumph said...

Wow, great comments, what great company to be in, real people who stutter and gets it.

Great post Tom.

Anonymous said...

IT isn't really a question of whether Blunt or Biden are examples of people living with stuttering. But rather people in the limelight who can shed light on an affliction that remains relatively hidden in everyday society. Hearing that a celebrity went thru something that you are going thru or someone you know is going thru gives it legitimacy and relavance. I wish that Austin Pendleton will be given the title next year :)