BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A viral social media campaign aimed at ending the stigma of stuttering can all be traced back to Vermont, or more specifically, to the Waterbury home of Danra Kazenski.
Kazenski, a speech-language pathologist launched the effort in March, shortly after former president Donald Trump openly mocked President Joe Biden for his stutter. She encouraged people with the speech disorder to record short videos of themselves saying a variation of “I’m worth listening to,” and for allies to record themselves saying “If you stutter, I’m listening.”
The challenge landed at the right moment, leading to more than 300 posts that have drawn hundreds of thousands of views from around the world. The campaign is the most recent project of a speech pathologist who has dedicated her life to shifting public discourse around the disorder and empowering youths and adults who stutter.
Darren Perron spoke with Seven Days’ Rachel Hellman, who profiled Kazenski and her work in this week’s issue.