For many of my fellow people who stutter, the feeling of disappointment, numbness, and simultaneous relief after a tough presentation is all too familiar. I was 19, an undergraduate at Stanford, and I had just finished a 20-minute presentation that should have only taken five minutes – not because I had more content, but because…
Even after 60 years, I can recall the fear that night that rolled through my stomach in pulsating knots. It’s the late 1950s and I’m at my first two-week summer camp in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. There are a hundred or so of us in a circle around the campfire and the lead counselor…
Jeremy Hays – I stared out to the railing of the balcony, a spotlight setting my chest ablaze. My stomach and ribs expanded, and hot air rushed into my throat. My arm raised a pointed finger toward the light as 4,000 pupils squished to refocus on my face. The air in my abdomen reversed its…
Dear Cracker Barrel, On October 25th, 2016, our friend Noah—a 16-year-old Camp SAY Camper who stutters—walked into the Cracker Barrel in Bardstown, KY to apply for a retail position, where he says he was met with disrespectful and discriminatory comments from employees because of the way that he talks. In addition to being hurtful, these…
Growing up, I always struggled with my stutter. As a child, I was silenced, bullied, and ashamed about how I spoke, which led me to hide my stutter from other people. Although I struggled with my stuttering, in high school, I was sent to Camp Our Time (now Camp SAY), where I had the opportunity…
Paul Vecker –For most of my life, I have battled against something that I considered an imperfection. I even personalized it and began thinking of it as my imperfection. In the beginning, it wasn’t a battle to correct my imperfection as much as it was a battle to hide it. The goal was to seem…
Angela Rivera-Monti – Hello, My name is Angela and I stutter. My story is no different from yours. I was bullied, laughed at, and even shunned by several family members. Stuttering was taboo and never spoken of. I was considered “handicapped” and treated differently from the other students in my class and family. In middle…
Matthew Hobbs – I started stuttering around age 5, that I can remember. I’ve been to doctors that have said “I would be held back in school”. I have teachers talking behind my back when they think I won’t hear them. I thought my stutter was more of a curse then a gift. Day by…
Congressman Frank Wolf –I have served in Congress for 17 years. That means I have given thousands of speeches: on the House floor; at graduation ceremonies; at Rotary clubs; on the campaign trail. Public speaking is a big part of my job. I am also a lifelong stutterer. I wanted to be in Congress since…
Travis Robertson –The more I tried, the more I failed and the more people noticed, and worried, and sometimes laughed. Meeting new people meant saying my name and I had trouble getting over the ‘R’ hump in Travis. I certainly avoided my last name whenever possible because Robertson was just entirely too long. Three syllables!?…