Today Is October 22

October 22 was designated International Stuttering Awareness Day in 1998. The day is intended to raise public awareness of stuttering, which affects one percent of the world's population.

The day is known as International Stammering Awareness Day in the UK and Ireland.

Stuttering and stammering are not quite the same: a stutter is an involuntary repetition of one letter, while a stammer is any speech-slowing defect.

The ancient Greek Demosthenes stuttered and was inarticulate as a youth, yet, through dedicated practice, using methods such as placing pebbles in his mouth, became a great orator of Ancient Greece.

Greek orator Demosthenes practicing oratory at the beach with pebbles in his mouth

Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, suffered from a stammer – a condition shared by most of his siblings. He was bullied mercilessly at Rugby School because of his speech disorder. Dodgson carried his stammer into adulthood. He referred to it as his "hesitation" and it continued to plague him throughout his entire life.

Golfer Tiger Woods stuttered as a child and used to talk to his dog until he fell asleep in an effort to get rid of it.