BIO
Michael (Mike) was born and raised in San Jose CA. Prior to receiving his Master’s Degree in Speech Pathology, he served in the US Navy for 24 years. Although he has been retired for 10 years now, he still remembers that part of his life just like it was yesterday. Mike has two grown children and has been married to his wife Teresa for 28 years. They currently live in the greater area of Sacramento CA.
Like a lot of people who stutter, he spent numerous years receiving speech therapy as a child. He remembers his mother taking him to Dr. Greenleaf’s private practice, where he would introduce puzzles to him. Back then he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, other than solving various types of puzzles. Now thinking back, he says that the puzzles were meant to be a motivator to get him to talk… but he just solved the puzzles like he was asked. Mike says, his mother quit taking him there just before he started Kindergarten. Mike recalls being in the third grade and the class having to split up into reading and math circles. This was when he noticed he did not communicate in the same manner as his other classmates, as he was the only one who stuttered. Mike started speech therapy once again and continued to receive speech therapy from the public schools until the 7th grade. He said, he finally spoke to his mother and said he wanted to stop. He said was tired of having to go to the special education classroom (which was smaller than a broom closet) and he was fed up with reading catchy phrases over and over, “I guess my SLP felt good about her treatment procedures, knowing I was speaking fluently during her activities.” Another reason was all about the stigma, the stigma of being lessor than his peers, even though he knew he was not!
Mike first heard about the NSP (before it was called the NSA) back in 1986; however, it took him over a decade to get to a chapter meeting. He recalls transferring from sea duty to shore duty in Washington state and had read about the Seattle Conference. He said, he signed-up, even showed up, but did not have the courage to walk in. He said, he just sat in the lobby for about 2 hours and watched person after person walk by. Fear, shame, and quilt are powerful! He eventually walked back to his car are drove home. Later that Fall he did attend his first NSA meeting in Seattle, which he later became Chapter Leader of. Being a Navy man, he was transferred a lot. Once he retired and settled in Sacramento, he joined their chapter and has now been Sacramento’s Chapter Leader for 10 years. He is also the Southwest Regional Coordinator for Adults and Family programs and has been a Stutter Social Host for over four years.
Mike was asked what he would tell the younger him. He said, not much gets in his way as an adult… While serving in the Navy, he was a shipboard Damage Control and Engineering Team trainer, a Fire Marshal, a facilitator, led 100+ people… meaning he had to talk a lot. He has given numerous interviews to local newspapers, been interviewed on TV, and was asked to be the commencement speaker when he graduated with his master’s degree in Speech Pathology. Just prior to giving his commencement speech, he was interviewed by the local NPR station in Sacramento. He said, he was asked why he would agree to give a commencement speech in front of about 10,000 people, knowing he would stutter. He simply said, “they are giving me 2 minutes (which extended to nearly 3 minutes) to bring awareness to stuttering, it was an opportunity that I could not pass up.”
As far as telling the younger me something: Don’t worry about teasing, don’t worry about bullies, don’t worry about making phone calls, don’t worry about going through the drive-thru, don’t worry about what other people might think or what you might perceive them to think about you! Just be yourself, and at the end of the day, let being yourself be enough. Sure, there will be shame and fear, but you will eventually forge them into purpose, and purpose is why we are here!
“Life is a journey, and some journeys have bumpy roads, and some have smooth roads. Whether the roads are bumpy or smooth, we can only hope that our journey leads us to breath taking views along the way.” ~ M.M.
Mike is a tattoo enthusiast (total number, unknown), likes relaxing outdoors, likes hikes, and enjoys riding his mountain bike when the weather is nice.
