The Aggie’s tribute to Bill Withers acknowledges his struggle with stuttering
To the Editor:
Re “Bill Withers: remembering a laid-back legend in soul” by Andrew Williams (arts, May 8):
Your article on Bill Withers was an excellent tribute piece to the great singer-songwriter. The piece mentioned that Withers struggled with stuttering early in his life, which other articles omitted.
Bill Withers is a PWS (person who stutters) who has been a role model to the PWS community for always speaking openly about his stuttering. Withers spoke out 40 years before the movie “The King’s Speech” brought stuttering to the forefront in a compassionate way. The biographical profile “Bill Withers Overcame Stuttering” on the Stuttering Foundation’s website cites that Withers received speech therapy during his many years in the navy, and that this gave him the confidence to pursue a career in music. It would be great if every child and adult with any kind of speech problem could receive the same level of speech therapy as Withers did in the military. It should also be noted that Withers was a bona fide hero to the stuttering community, and he forever will be.
ED DEPHILLIPS, FORT LEE, NEW JERSEY
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