International Stuttering Community Honors Extraordinary Film

By The Stuttering Foundation, PRNE
Sunday, April 17, 2011

The King's Speech Lauded

NEW YORK, April 19, 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.

(Photo: photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110418/DC85484 )

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

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 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.

Greg Wilson, gregwilsonpr at gmail.com, +1-571-239-7474

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