25 Things I Wish I Had Known About Stuttering When I was 20

By Laurent Lagarde

Laurent Lagarde, who translated the books Advice to Those Who Stutter and Sometimes I Just Stutter into French, now shares “25 things I wish I had known about stuttering when I was 20 years old.”

He wrote them for his French blog and has now translated them into English.

1. I wish I had known that stuttering is not a fault and is not my fault.

2. I wish I had known that stuttering is just one part of my person.

3. I wish I had known that to accept doesn’t mean to abdicate.

4. I wish I had known that stuttering is not the explanation for all the things I don’t like in me or in my life.

5. I wish I had known it’s possible to overcome stuttering.

6. I wish I had known that a common point among PWS who have overcome stuttering is that they knew it was possible.

7. I wish I had known that stuttering is not a failure and fluency is not a success.

8. I wish I had known that you have to dare to be yourself with your virtues and defects.

9. I wish I had known that speaking openly about my stuttering could be such a relief.

10. I wish I had known that others will react to my stuttering the way I react to it myself.

11. I wish I had known that speaking about stuttering is opening the door to a world of wonderful discoveries and encounters.

12. I wish I had known you must never let stuttering prevent you from moving forward.

13. I wish I had known that every avoidance is a waste of time.

14. I wish I had known that every journey starts with a first step.

15. I wish I had known that you don’t have to be good to start but you have to start to be good.

16. I wish I had known that the smallest action is better than the noblest intention.

17. I wish I had known that “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle

18. I wish I had known that being positive and changing my thoughts could really change my life.

19. I wish I had known that the word “failure” doesn’t exist. There are only results which are learnings and step stones to success.

20. I wish I had known that there are no difficulties, only opportunities.

21. I wish I had known that effective communication is not a matter of fluency.

22. I wish I had known that PWS can compete with the best speakers and win speech contests.

23. I wish I had known that stuttering responds positively to humour.

24. I wish I had known that you must look for pleasure not for performance.

25. I wish I had known that I‘d write these lines one day. And I wish I would have known that I will speak one day with Jane Fraser and translate and publish two Stuttering Foundation books :-).

Laurent Lagarde’s blog is at www.goodbye-begaiement.fr and he is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoodbyeBegaiement

From the 2013 Winter Newsletter

CELEBRITY FOCUS

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, was well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones spoke some of the most memorable lines in the history of American film, but the man known for his voice was once afflicted with a severe stutter.

Emily Blunt

Actress Emily Blunt struggled with stuttering early in her life. A teacher encouraged her to act in a school play at age 12 despite her stuttering.

Blunt’s name is prominently featured on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter.

Mel Tillis

Mel Tillis, born Lonnie Melvin Tillis, was an influential figure in country music, both as a songwriter and a performer. His journey to fame was marked by overcoming personal challenges, including a stutter that he turned into a defining part of his public persona.

Dave Taylor

Dave Taylor has been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter for many years, but probably few people know all of the unique accomplishments of this former hockey great who was born on December 4, 1955, in Levack, Ontario.

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.