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Black Tie International:
International
Stuttering Community Honors Extraordinary Film
The King's Speech Lauded |
International
Stuttering
Community Honors
Extraordinary
Film
The King’s
Speech Lauded
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Panthera's Dr. Alan Rabinowitz
(left) and Stuttering Foundation's Jane Fraser (center) with
Michael Palin Centre's Fran Cook (right) at gala honoring
films bringing positive attention to the stuttering
community.
Photo courtesy of the
Stuttering Foundation
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New York City (April 18, 2011) – The
Stuttering Foundation and
The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children honored the
Academy Award-winning film The King’s Speech at a
gala event in New York City today.
The King’s Speech, which will be released on DVD
tomorrow, is enthusiastically supported by the stuttering
community for the positive attention it has brought to
stuttering.
The Stuttering Foundation’s captivating public service
announcement plays a starring role on every copy of the DVD.
“The King’s Speech has raised awareness of
stuttering beyond any level we could ever have imagined. The
actors’ incredibly accurate portrayal of the anguish faced
by people who stutter has been instrumental in opening up
honest dialogue about stuttering and its treatment,” said
Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation. She
also thanked the film’s director and screenwriter “for
giving us a hero and a movie we can look to for inspiration,
much as my father looked to King George VI more than six
decades ago.”
“We hope a copy of The King’s Speech DVD will
end up in the home of every person who stutters and in
schools and universities around the world,” added Fraser.
“It is a story worth seeing over and over again for years to
come.”
Stuttering and the
Big Cats
Converting
Awareness Into Action
New York City (April 18, 2011) – A new
film titled Stuttering and the Big Cats featuring
renowned American zoologist, conservationist, and field
biologist Dr. Alan Rabinowitz is now available on DVD from
the Stuttering Foundation.
In Stuttering and the Big Cats, Dr. Rabinowitz,
president and CEO of New York-based Panthera, shares his
life-long struggle to overcome stuttering through his work
protecting the world’s largest and most imperiled cats. The
film captures his address to young people who stutter at the
annual convention of Friends, a national support group for
kids .
Rabinowitz was honored at a gala event in New York City
today to introduce the film internationally.
“Alan’s courage is particularly inspiring to young people
whose career paths have yet to be decided and for whom
stuttering often seems an insurmountable obstacle. Through
hard work, perseverance and dedication to his true passions,
Alan never let stuttering hold him back from his quest to
help endangered animals,” said Jane Fraser, president of the
Stuttering Foundation. “We are proud to make this video
available and hope that every young person who stutters has
an opportunity to hear Alan’s story.”
"I recall vividly as a child staring at a jaguar as he
paced in his cage at the zoo," said Alan Rabinowitz,
president and CEO of Panthera. "He was trapped, seeking a
way out of a dark world, something I related to strongly at
the time. And I knew then that when I found my voice, I
would use it for him, for saving big cats around the world.
My love for wildlife and the urgency needed to save the big
cats helped me overcome stuttering. This life-long quest has
resulted in Panthera – which is now my platform for speaking
loudly for, and working to save, some of the planets
greatest species."
The availability of Stuttering and the Big Cats is
an example of the Stuttering Foundation’s “Converting
Awareness into Action” effort, which builds upon the
overwhelmingly positive attention stuttering has gained
through the release of The King’s Speech .
###
About the Foundation
Malcolm Fraser felt the same dread of speaking in public
that King George VI experienced in the 1940s. Inspired by
the plight of “Bertie”, Fraser, a successful businessman and
stutterer, went on to establish and endow the 64-year-old
nonprofit Stuttering Foundation in 1947. The Stuttering
Foundation provides a toll-free helpline, 800-992-9392,
and free online resources on its Website, www.StutteringHelp.org,
including services, referrals and support to people who
stutter and their families, as well as support for research
into the causes of stuttering. Please visit us at www.StutteringHelp.org.
About Panthera
Panthera, founded in 2006, is the world’s leading
organization devoted exclusively to the conservation of wild
cats and their ecosystems. Utilizing the expertise of the
world’s premier cat biologists, Panthera develops and
implements global conservation strategies for the largest,
most imperiled cats – tigers, lions, jaguars and snow
leopards. Representing the most comprehensive effort of its
kind, Panthera works in partnership with local and
international NGOs, scientific institutions, local
communities and governments. Visit http://www.panthera.org/.
About Dr. Alan Rabinowitz
Dr. Alan Rabinowitz is the president and CEO of Panthera, a
nonprofit dedicated to saving the world’s wild cat species.
Dr. Rabinowitz is one of the world’s leading big cat
experts, and has been called ‘The Indiana Jones of Wildlife
Conservation’ by TIME Magazine. He has authored over one
hundred scientific and popular articles and six books, and
has been featured in numerous documentaries including BBC’s Lost
Land of the Tiger and National Geographic’s In
Search of the Jaguar; and on TV specials including the
Colbert Report, CBS 60 Minutes and CNN. To learn more,
please visit www.panthera.org
About The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering
Children
The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children was opened
in 1993 by the actor and writer, Michael Palin, to provide
practical help for children and young people who stammer and
their families. The Centre is currently staffed by a team
of eleven specialist speech and language therapists and
provides an expert assessment and therapy service for
children and young adults from all parts of the UK. The
Centre also conducts a full teaching programme for speech
and language therapists in its assessment and treatment
methods, in the use of cognitive and brief therapy in the
treatment of stammering, and in research and its application
to clinical practice. The Centre has a research programme
to investigate the causes and effective treatment of
stammering .
The Stuttering Foundation has supported the work of the
Michael Palin Centre since 2006 through the charity, the
Association for Research into Stammering in Childhood.
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