Aging Gracefully: Self-Therapy

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The book Self-Therapy for the Stutterer by Malcolm Fraser continues to help people around the world.

The following e-mail came from a research assistant in Zimbabwe who, like conservationist Alan Rabinowitz, is using his voice to help the animals who have no voice.

"I'm beginning to realize some positives from the stuttering self-therapy book," he wrote. "I've set myself some assignments, and the fact that I'm conducting workshops for teachers provides the perfect situations for the assignments."

"I'm currently holding workshops every day about a cheetah awareness campaign that involves the use of a schoolbook that integrates subjects in the education curricula with cheetah conservation aspects."

He continues, 'my task is to hear their evaluation on the use of the book prior to giving them a refresher course. This task provides me with the perfect opportunity to study my stuttering and attend to it as per the self-therapy recommendations. I find out that I'm even gaining enough confidence to continue talking and expressing what I want to say. I feel this book could soon help me move out of my cocoon."

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

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.

Byron Pitts

Byron Pitts has brought much attention to stuttering with his memoir, Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges, released in September, 2009. The book not only details his speech difficulties, but also his illiteracy until age 12 and his unstable family life. Pitts overcame the odds to become the chief national correspondent with ABC News.

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, is well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones has spoken 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.

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.

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.