The Moody College of Communication is creating a stuttering center funded by a 10-year $20 million grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. 

The Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research will work to improve understanding of the nature and treatment of stuttering, according to a Monday media release. 

The center will be under the direction of Courtney Byrd, the founder and director of the Michael and Tami Lang Stuttering Institute, the Dr. Jennifer and Emanuel Bodner Developmental Stuttering Laboratory and the Dealey Family Foundation Stuttering Clinic.

During the Monday celebration event, many people who participated in the Communication Excellence program at the Lang Institute, including 8-year-old Nadia Watson, discussed what they wish others knew about stuttering.

“What I wish people knew about stuttering is it’s actually a very unique thing that people do, and if someone thinks that there’s something wrong with you, they’re thinking wrong,” Watson said.

Many people who stutter report their clinical treatment experiences as being focused primarily on fluency, according to the media release. Moody Dean Jay Bernhardt said Byrd’s work is holistic, focusing on how people fit into their family, communities and schools. 

“Stuttering is a part of who I am, but it is not all of who I am,” Mary Lieberman said during the event. “The challenge for us is to remember that we have much to contribute. The Lang Center is a safe harbor for persons who stutter. We learn to help each other.” 

Arthur M. Blank, co-founder of The Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons, is a person who stutters. Blank said it is powerful to give people the opportunity to fully express themselves, regardless of fluency. 

“You’re really unleashing the power of each individual person,” Blank said. “In some ways, it’s a form of saving somebody’s life, making sure that their life has all the maximum potential to it that it possibly can. So to be part of a program like that … is an honor for us.”

The grant will allow the center to establish satellite centers and launch Byrd’s treatment program — Camp Dream. Speak. Live. — in 10 new countries. The first satellite center will be established at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Byrd said.

“What I wish everyone knew about stuttering is that it doesn't hold you back,” said Kevin Yuan, a recent UT graduate and a person who stutters. “I think all of us have times when we feel a bit of lack of confidence because of how we speak, but I think it's important in life to have people who support you.”

Byrd and her team have served over 1,500 children, teenagers and adults who stutter, and the results indicate positive outcomes, such as increased positive perception in their ability to establish peer-to-peer relationships and an increased ability to understand, educate and advocate for themselves and others who stutter, according to the media release. 

“I envision a world where conformity is no longer the measure of success, where differences are embraced, and when people reflect upon communication, at the core of their reflection is the understanding that it’s ok to stutter because fundamentally it is ok to be different,” Byrd said in the media release.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with quotes and details from the event celebrating the creation of the stuttering center.