Stuttering Help.

In light of Eastern’s Disability Celebration Month, motivational speaker Bill Deering came to EWU on Oct. 19 to speak about how he has overcome many obstacles in his life, including severe stuttering.
He has been a motivational speaker for six years.
Deering was seven years old when he started stuttering.
All throughout school, he was embarrassed and humiliated about his disability, which affected him psychologically and physically.
According to Deering, he gained 55 pounds his sophomore year of high school and was failing almost all of his classes.
He recalled a moment in ninth grade when he had to give an oral presentation and was absolutely horrified.
According to Deering, all he can remember thinking was, “Oh my God, what am I going to do? I stutter.”
Deering spent three months practicing his speech in front of a bathroom mirror.
On the day of his oral presentation, he couldn’t say anything.
“Stuttering was a living hell for me,” said Deering. “I dreaded school. I hated it.”
Deering remembers experiencing an epiphany while sitting in the bleachers of his high school gymnasium during an assembly.
According to Bill Deering, the junior class president went up in front of the school and said, “Go make next year the best year of your life.” At that moment, he knew he had to make a change.
He made it onto his high school football team and track team, his grades improved greatly and he was losing weight.
“I did it! I never gave up,” said Deering.
Deering attended West Chester University in West Chester, Penn.
After multiple changes in his major and having trouble passing his classes, he graduated on May 15, 1993 with a degree in communication disorders after being in college for seven years.
Even though he had just graduated from college, he still dreaded stuttering.
It wasn’t until a friend of his told him an advantage he had with stuttering that made Deering realize something he had never noticed before.
“He said to me, ‘Bill, you ought to consider that stuttering gives you an advantage over other people. … Have you ever noticed when you stutter, people tend to listen to you very closely? … That’s your advantage. … People don’t get listened to that way and you do,’ ” said Deering.
It took Deering a long time to overcome his stuttering with the help of speech therapy, yet the “best therapy is being able to accept it,” said Deering.
“Once you accept stuttering, you’ll be free.”
When asked what advice he would give people who are experiencing failures in their life, he said that he would “recommend that they reach out to friends and teachers and people who can support them … Find people that are willing to support you in achieving your goal and ask them to be your team and use your team to be successful.”
Alexandra Talbott and Sara Steinmetz, both freshmen at Eastern, attended his motivation speech.
They were many things that they found relatable.
Talbott said that she can relate with him on “all the teasing in high school. I think everyone in high school gets teased for different reasons.”
“[During my] senior year, I joined cheerleading to raise my grades, just like he did with football,” said Talbott.
Steinmetz said that “joining a sports team to feel involved in school” was a connection she felt while listening to Deering’s presentation.
“I liked how he shared his personal experience with us,” said Steinmetz.
“I couldn’t even tell that he has a stutter,” said Talbott.
According to Deering, if he could go back in time and tell his younger self one thing about the future, he would tell him to relax.
“I would tell him to enjoy life and enjoy every moment.”