James Earl Jones

We are sad to see the passing of James Earl Jones today. A great actor, a fantastic voice, and by all accounts a lovely man. He was someone who stammered and who continued to work hard to sound fluent and manage his words throughout his life. He once said

"I'm still a stutterer. Sometimes I guess our vocabulary might be a little larger than it would ordinarily have been, because we have to find the word we won't trip on, or that begins with the right consonant”.

James talked about the support he got from speech and language therapists, learning different techniques to manage his stammer, and how difficult it was trying to sound fluent. He was happy to talk about his stammer. He had a magnificent voice. As someone with a stammer (or a stutter), he will continue to inspire generations of people who themselves grow up with a stammer, showing that talking differently needn't be an obstacle to achieving your dreams.