Today we celebrate raising awareness about stuttering, it’s International Stuttering Awareness Day. This day is observed annually on October 22nd.
People sometimes are ridiculous and mean when they make jokes about everything. Nowadays some people make of people who stutter and sometimes even make videos of people. Some things are funny, but making fun of people with a disability is not a joke and it is not funny.
It can be hurtful towards a person who has a disability and to their friends and families. This is a type of bullying and this is not acceptable. Making fun of people who stutter can pose a real effect in both the person and their professional lives not to mention the amount of embarrassment and frustration it can cause in their lifetime.
Stuttering is a communication disorder involving disruptions or dysfluencies in a person’s speech. The impact of stuttering on a person’s functioning and emotional state can be severe. This may include fears of having to enunciate specific vowels or consonants, fears of being caught stuttering in social situations, self-imposed isolation, anxiety, stress, shame, low self-esteem, being a possible target of bullying, especially in children.
So, today, celebrate this day by teaching our students or children to read some history about King George VI of England. It will encourage them to raise awareness not to mock and make fun of their classmates or other people with disability especially when they are stuttering. Share on social media to raise awareness using #InternationalStutteringAwarenessDay.
2012 Cyclist Lance Armstrong is stripped of his seven Tour De France titles
On this day in 2012, Lance Armstrong is formally stripped of the seven Tour de France titles he won from 1999 to 2005 and banned for life from competitive cycling after being charged with systematically using illicit performance-enhancing drugs and blood transfusions as well as demanding that some of his Tour teammates dope in order to help him win races. It was a dramatic fall from grace for the one-time global cycling icon, who inspired millions of people after surviving cancer then going on to become one of the most dominant riders in the history of the grueling French race, which attracts the planet’s top cyclists. Born in Texas in 1971, Armstrong became a professional cyclist in 1992 and by 1996 was the number-one ranked rider in the world. However, in October 1996 he was diagnosed with Stage 3 testicular cancer, which had spread to his lungs, brain, and abdomen. After undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, Armstrong resumed training in early 1997 and in October of that year joined the U.S. Postal Service, cycling team. Also in 1997, he established a cancer awareness foundation. The organization would famously raise millions of dollars through a sales campaign, launched in 2004, of yellow Livestrong wristbands.
In July 1999, to the amazement of the cycling world and less than three years after his cancer diagnosis, Armstrong won his first Tour de France. He was only the second American ever to triumph in the legendary, three-week race, established in 1903. (The first American to do so was Greg LeMond, who won in 1986, 1989 and 1990.) Armstrong went on to win the Tour again in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. In 2004, he became the first person ever to claim six Tour titles, and on July 24, 2005, Armstrong won his seventh straight title and retired from pro cycling. He made a comeback to the sport in 2009, finishing third in that year’s Tour and 23rd in the 2010 Tour, before retiring for good in 2011 at age 39.
(excerpted from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cyclist-lance-armstrong-is-stripped-of-his-seven-tour-de-france-titles)
