An interesting book review

Famous Stutterers: Twelve Inspiring People Who Achieved Great Things while Struggling with an Impediment by Gerald R. McDermott

Last night I listened to a fascinating book review and author interview of Gerald R. McDermott.  I knew Moses was a stutterer, but I didn’t know about Marilyn Monroe, and that they had to do 47 takes to get one line right in “Some like it Hot.”  Moses, Aristotle, Civil War hero Joshua Chamberlain, King George VI, Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, distinguished historian Peter Brown, TV journalist John Stossel, Senator's wife Annie Glenn, ABC correspondent Byron Pitts, novelist John Updike.  I did know about Annie Glenn, who recently died, and had seen the movie about George VI, and John Stossel has talked about it.  McDermott said that millions suffer from the embarrassment and challenging disability of stuttering, and that 98% of them are men. I believe he said he is also a stutterer, although there wasn’t anything in the interview to indicate it. Singing, for some reason, is no problem, and each stutterer finds ways to handle it, and takes training or lessons to calm it. I remember almost 60 years ago helping a Russian graduate student with his first draft (or more) of his PhD thesis.  He had a terrible stutter, but only in Russian, not in English (which wasn’t very good).

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2017/02/20/12-famous-stories-determination-stutterers/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/northamptonseminar/2016/09/04/marilyn-monroe-stutterer/

The book review reminded me of the many, many people with  disabilities who struggle everyday to challenge, improve, or maybe despair. Some are bullied, some are teased, some give up.