by Maya Chupkov
Creator & Host of the Proud Stutter Podcast
Creator & Host of the Proud Stutter Podcast
Maya Chupkov
Did you know that one percent of the U.S. population has a stutter? That's about three million Americans.
Did you also know that this week -- May 9th through May 15th -- has been designated National Stuttering Awareness Week.
The stuttering community and those connected to it participate actively in National Stuttering Awareness Week (NSAW) - from people who stutter, to speech therapists, policymakers, and the media.
The National Stuttering Association was instrumental in getting NSAW established by an act of Congress in 1988. Two long-time NSA members, Paul Castellano and Barbara Hubbard Koval, organized the drive to win Congressional recognition for people who stutter, where President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation establishing the second week in May as National Stuttering Awareness Week.
During this awareness week, local government resolutions are a powerful tool to generate local awareness about stuttering.
San Francisco is leading the charge in California with the help of Proud Stutter, a podcast that aims to shift the narrative around stuttering and what it means to be verbally diverse. As a woman who stutters, Maya Chupkov, the host and producer of the show, is a stuttering advocate working to shift societal norms around speech so that people who stutter can feel more free to be themselves. She worked with the Bay Area Stuttering Community and Supervisor Dean Preston to pass a resolution to recognize National Stuttering Awareness Week in California. To celebrate this historic win, Maya is organizing events to help shed a light on stuttering. Visit www.proudstutter.com to learn more.
Organizations dedicated to bringing hope and empowerment to children and adults who stutter through support, education, and advocacy, have locations in San Francisco, including West Coast Stuttering Center and Hearing and Speech Center.
Stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by repetition of sounds, syllables, or words, prolongation of sounds, and interruptions in speech;
Many stutterers suffer frustration and embarrassment that can lead to harmful emotional stress. Stuttering is a form of verbal diversity and should be recognized as simply a different way of speaking.
When stuttering continues into adulthood, a person may have difficulty communicating with other people and stuttering may affect a person’s quality of life, interpersonal relationship, job opportunities, and professional growth.
By recognizing these challenges, we can draw attention to the needs, shine a light on these often invisible disabilities, and help avoid the negative consequences of misunderstanding stuttering.
Famous people who stutter include actor James Earl Jones, Marilyn Monroe, and U.S. President Joe Biden.
Please support National Stuttering Awareness Week by sharing this article and the below resources with your own community.
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