By Analah Wallace | OBSERVER Staff Writer
To some, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is an athlete, a friend, or a loving father. To others, he is the reason a family can afford to get their child speech therapy in their formative years.
Now working nationally as a stuttering awareness advocate, Kidd-Gilchrist has helped get stutter-accommodating bills passed in four states and is working to get another signed into law in California.
Kidd-Gilchrist, 31, has had a stutter since he was a kid. He recounted that despite having people around him who supported him, he still felt isolated.
“Of all my friends and family,” Kidd-Gilchrist said, “I was the only one who had a stutter.”
A gifted athlete who won an NCAA title with Kentucky in 2012 and enjoyed an eight-year NBA career, Kidd-Gilchrist said he was lucky to always have people around him who supported him, but that it didn’t mean he didn’t face moments of mistreatment due to his speech.
He recalled hearing people call him “dumb” or “stupid,” particularly after games.
It was through these experiences that he decided he wanted to start doing advocacy work around stuttering awareness and accommodation.
“I just want to break the stigma around stutters,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “It’s not all bad.”
When he began to get into the political space, Kidd-Gilchrist didn’t think he would have a chance at being heard. Not only did he have a stutter, but he acknowledged that he was a “minority of a minority,” being a Black man with a speech disability. He said he knew he would likely face discrimination regardless, so he was going to commit fully to advocacy. So far, Kidd-Gilchrist has helped pass bills in Kentucky, Nevada, Pennsylvania and New York.
These bills allow children with speech disabilities to have their therapy completely covered by insurance. His next goal is to get a similar bill passed in California. Joined by the organization Proud Stutter, Kidd-Gilchrist on July 9 visited the Capitol to advocate for his cause.
“I didn’t know anybody as far as a senator or even [an Assembly] member, so I made that trip to introduce myself to people, show who I am and what I’m about,” Kidd-Gilchrist said.
Proud Stutter founder Maya Chupkov has been working with Kidd-Gilchrist, who connected with her after hearing her podcast about her experience as a stutterer and asked for help with his advocacy work in California. She described him as very focused on making stuttering accommodation more affordable and accessible for people of all backgrounds.
“Stuttering is very misunderstood and filled with nuance, and it’s an experience that often [isn’t] vocalized,” Chupkov said.
Chupkov said stuttering is prevalent in the Black community, and likely more than we’re aware of due to the stigma around the disability and talking about it. In addition to trying to pass legislation in California, Chupkov and Kidd-Gilchrist share a goal of making May 9-15 stuttering acceptance awareness week.
Chupkov is working with a film team to create a documentary on Isaac Bailey, a professor from South Carolina and a Black stutterer who has won awards for his advocacy in spreading awareness for stutterers.
Eliot Goldstein, a Proud Stutter board member, has performed behind the scenes to help Kidd-Gilchrist and Chupkov’s advocacy by helping contact legislators, scheduling meetings, and helping with organization events.
As a kid, Goldstein said he didn’t necessarily mind having a stutter but grew embarrassed about it over time. He said he has been through fluency shaping therapy, a type of speech therapy that helps people conquer their stutters. However, he realized that feeling he had to hide his stutter only made him feel worse about it.
“It can be catastrophic to one’s mental health,” Goldstein said. “My stutter isn’t severe, but it still affects me every day.”
Like Kidd-Gilchrist, he wants to break the stigma around talking about it and show that a stutter isn’t something to hide. Since then, he has helped in advocacy work, including holding a fundraiser for the Bailey film and highlighting people of color within the stuttering community. He has also been crucial in helping Kidd-Gilchrist get his bills introduced in California.
As he continues his advocacy, Kidd-Gilchrist said he wants to help people embrace their stutters and give a support system to those who may not have had one as he did. He said his stutter isn’t “all bad,” as it taught him to be patient and open.
He keeps pushing to pass legislation in California for the stuttering community, as well as to hold more events that give people with similar experiences a safe space. He hopes his advocacy makes a difference, especially for youth and families of youth who didn’t know much about stuttering or how to accommodate it before.
“I just want to be a vessel for those who have a stutter and feel there is no way out,” Kidd-Gilchrist said.