Stuttering is having its moment right now. Never before have people been more aware of stuttering than today. U.S. President Joe Biden stutters. Baseball superstar George Springer stutters. British actress Emily Blunt stutters. And three million more people around the world stutter. Yet, the negative public perception of stuttering persists.

In WORDS FAIL US: In Defence of Disfluency, author Jonty Claypole takes on the challenge of changing how society views people who stutter. Claypole makes an intriguing appeal for the public to celebrate people with speech disorders “because of the diversity and innovation they bring to human thought and language.”

Throughout the book, we learn about Jonty’s relationship with his stutter and how he has come to understand the positive contributions disfluent people make in society. The National Stuttering Association spent time with Jonty Claypole to learn more about his story, his book and his hope for changing the public perception of people who stutter.