American Institute for Stuttering Freeing Voices, Changing Lives Gala

[transcript]

[Tribeca Rooftop, Red Carpet arrivals]

[Sam Waterson/Actor]

Some illnesses and high-profile causes receive a lot of media coverage and celeb support but stuttering has not gotten the public attention it deserves. We are here to change that.

[Emily Blunt/Actress]

It's important to me simply because as much as anyone here I've understood the anguish of having a stutter.

[Byron Pitts/CBS News]

I'm a stutterer I didn't learn to manage my stutter until I was twenty and I just know how debilitating it can be to a person's life – it makes you feel closed off from the world and you can't communicate.

[Joe Moglia/Chairman TD Ameritrade]
I do have and I always have had a pretty severe stutter. I've done a good job of controlling that over the years but as a kid in grammar school, high school and college I wouldn't raise my hand for example in school because I was afraid that if I was called on I wouldn't get the words out.

[Sam Waterson]

Here to share with the impact it had on her own family is reknowned journalist Barbara Walters. Barbara is the most probing and provocative interviewer of our time. Please welcome the incomparable Barbara Walters.

[Barbara Walters]

I called the book Audition but that's not originally what I was going to call it. This is from the prologue, the opening page. "Sister. I thought for awhile that this is what the title of this memoir should be because it was my older and only sister Jacqueline that was unwittingly the most important influence on my life. You wouldn't have known from looking at Jackie that there was anything different about her until she opened her mouth to talk. Jackie was the worse stutterer I have ever seen. Today with the help of this organization my sister I'm sure would have had a very very different life.

[Emily Blunt]

I was constantly enraged at the thought that I was misrepresenting myself. Why can't I say this? How can I say that? How can I avoid saying the word 'yes' in a sentence. Maybe it would sound strange if I said 'affirmative' rather than 'yes' or maybe I could spend this entire dinner conversation saying 'mmm hmm', 'mmm hmm' and now everyone realizes I'm just going 'mmm hmm', 'mmm hmm'.
I think that's what I love about the American Institute for Stuttering is to be proud of your stuttering, to give them your best stutter and see what people do. You can't control how other people react but you can absolutely control yourself.

[Joe Moglia]

If you really don't know someone who's close to you that stutters, then there's a good chance that you view this the same way a large part of our society feels, it's something that it's not inappropriate to make fun of. To this day my single biggest fear is that in a group, in an organization, in a meeting, speaking publically, on television, I'm not going to be able to get my words out. It's still the single thing that scares me the most.

[Sam Waterson]

Catherine is an exceptional communicator and if you could be an observer in one of her workshops you would witness and incredible trust linking teacher and student that is almost magical.

[Catherine Montgomery]

We have a real special treat for you this evening as Joe was saying, for all the preparation that's gone into tonight – the courage, the gumption – it's waiting for you here. To hear directly from those we work with.

[Jodriann Lumabao]

Good evening everyone, my name is Jodriann Lumabao and I've been at AIS for about seven months now. I had a severe stutter that sounded like this: Nuck, nuck. Now after seven months of training and helping, my speech impediment is completely gone.
I also use to hate being in front of class talking and having students look at me. It was embarrassing that I'm a stutterer. Now look at me today I'm talking to like a hundred people today.

[Joseph Farley]

Hello everyone and thank you for coming. My name is Joe Farley and I am ten years old and I stutter. In school I was being teased and I didn't know why I was being teased because I didn't know that I stuttered. So I really needed help and now I know that I can tell all my friends that I stutter and they don't have to make fun of me, it's just a part of my life.

[Kieran Coyne]

My name is Kieran Coyne and I did the intensive program at AIS three years ago. Before entering the program I was hesitant to speak. I was constantly frustrated because I could never say what I wanted to say. The program really changed everything for me. Before the program I never really wanted to speak or put myself in a speaking situation. My speech is no longer an obstacle and since my days at AIS I have been free of fear and be able to concentrate on the other aspects of life.

[Derek Wood]

My name is Derek Wood…. My stutter has always been pretty moderate – sometimes it's been moderate, sometimes not, it kinda fluctuated and I've always just kinda lived with it. And as I got higher and higher up in my career I realized it could be holding me back. Since walking into AIS a few years ago I've learned how to manage my lips, tongue, mouth, and these things called my vocal folds, which I didn't know I had but they're right here, but more importantly I now know how to manage my fears and my thoughts. My name is Derek Wood – yes!

["Mojo" Myles Mancuso]

I'd like to start with a solo song. When I first heard this song I thought it just kind of summed up what me and the people that stutter go through. It's called "I Wish I Knew."

[Emily Blunt]

It is a complete disability and I don't think people know that I think people feel it's still okay to bully or tease and it's not, so I'm proud to be here.

[Joe Moglia]

I think the whole reason AIS exists is to bring awareness to this and then when you have people who have been able to handle it – and I don't think you can ever conquer it but I think you can control it – people have been able to do that are pretty good examples for others who are going through this type of anxiety.

[Byron Pitts]

To have an organization that can help people overcome that, to help people enjoy their lives in ways that other people are not able to enjoy their lives is a wonderful gift.