George Springer is a badass. The Astros MVP ruled the World Series this year, hitting a barrage of home runs that ultimately brought home the trophy for Houston. I couldn’t do any of that in my dreams on steroids with the help of a genie, but there is one important thing I have in common with George Springer: we both stutter. And guess what? He’s a badass in that department as well. He doesn’t hide it; he openly talks about his speech and his experience of being bullied as a child. His parents describe how he had to overcome his fear of public speaking on a stage watched by millions of sports fans around the world.
When George Springer talks about stuttering, he actually stutters. He does not apologize for it. He speaks of his achievements with pride and dignity, letting his natural voice be heard.
Not only is George able to speak with millions of people watching; he is able to stutter with all of them watching too. Plenty of celebrities claim they stutter or used to stutter, but how often do we actually see them do it? The stutter is always presented as an enemy they have vanquished, a heroic feat that adds to their legend, like Washington chopping down the cherry tree. We are supposed to take it as a testament to their character that they were able to overcome such an impediment. By contrast, when George Springer talks about stuttering, he actually stutters. He does not apologize for it. He speaks of his achievements with pride and dignity, letting his natural voice be heard. His message is as powerful as it is unassuming: “This is who I am.”
I have stuttered since I was eight years old. I always wanted to be a stand-up comedian, but I buried that dream because I didn’t think a person who stuttered could perform in the public eye. I never saw respected figures on TV talking the way I do, so what reason could I have had to believe that I could be an entertainer? Today, I perform comedy all over the country (in fact, many of my jokes target cultural attitudes toward stuttering), but it took decades before I even allowed myself to try. I can’t help but wonder how things might be different if I were eight years old today. If a younger version of me saw this star athlete able to stutter in front of an adoring public, would I have waited so long to pursue my passion? Who knows?
Presenting people who have gotten over stuttering as role models implies that we need to defeat our stutter and become “normal” in order to achieve success. By contrast, George Springer proves that we can do great things whether we stutter or not.
What I know for sure is that George Springer is changing attitudes now. If you are exposed to someone different from you, especially someone of equal or higher status, it becomes that much harder to look down upon said difference. And since George is a Wheaties-box-level athlete, that pretty much makes him higher status than all of us—and yet he’s one of us! Why is this so important to people who stutter? Because it demonstrates what we often suspect but don’t see often enough: that we can kick ass and stutter at the same time. Those public figures like Joe Biden and Tiger Woods who say that they used to stutter—that’s all good and well—but it doesn’t do a lot for our particular community. Presenting them as stuttering role models implies that we need to defeat our stutter and become “normal” in order to achieve success. By contrast, George Springer proves that we can do great things whether we stutter or not. Just be yourself and do your best. No mystical lesson to be learned.
The other thing that makes George Springer so important is that he embraces our community. He works with the Stuttering Association for the Young (SAY) to share his story with young people who struggle with the same bullying and alienation he experienced as a child. In turn, he is sharing their stories with the world and bringing public attention to the issue. I get all tingly inside just thinking about it! By using his status as a sports icon, George Springer is able to normalize stuttering in ways that I never dreamed were possible. As I mentioned earlier, growing up in the ’80s provided me with limited role models. Apart from the occasional glimpse at Lester Hayes or Mel Tillis repeating a syllable, I was mostly exposed to images of stuttering through horror movies (fictional killers are often given a speech impediment so the audience is clear why they bitterly hate others).
Springer hasn’t overcome stuttering; he has overcome people’s bias against stuttering. He has overcome the shame that weighs us down when the world tells us that our voices are abnormal.
As for female characters, I didn’t see a woman stuttering on TV until I was 23. Howard Stern had her selling hot dogs on the side of a road in a bikini, because, you know, Howard Stern. If women who identify as having a disability are best represented by The Howard Stern Show, it’s safe to say that the media could be doing a better job.
George Springer is moving us past those days of being confined to images of criminality or overcoming in the public imagination. Now we have a stuttering hero who is literally as American as baseball cards and bubblegum. He proudly embraces his identity and the stuttering community. He stands for the idea that we should not hide ourselves, because hiding ourselves is hiding our talents and who we are. I keep seeing headlines with phrases like “Springer Overcomes Stutter.” He hasn’t overcome stuttering; he has overcome people’s bias against stuttering. He has overcome the shame that weighs us down when the world tells us that our voices are abnormal. By embracing his voice, he gives us courage to embrace our own.
