Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was not far behind as a professional basketball player.
6 -foot 6 -inch striker star late. Year of the Charlotte Bobcats and converted the NBA All-Rookie team into its first season in the NBA.
He played for the Bobcats, which later became the Charlotte Hornets, until approximately in the mid-2019-20 season, when he was changed to the Dallas Mavericks. He moved away from the professional ranks after playing in 2020 after he was renounced by the New York Knicks.
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The former professional basketball player Michael Kidd-Gilchrist poses for a portrait in Falls Church, Virginia, on June 26, 2024. (IMAGN)
In total, Kidd-Gilchrist averaged 8.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in 466 race games.
What few people knew during the ups and downs of their career in basketball was that Kidd-Gilchrist fought against a problem that affects more than 3 million Americans and more than 80 million people worldwide.
He suffered from stuttering.
Stuttering is one of the most difficult problems to speak because it generally creates a false perception about the person suffering from him, even taking out his name when asking for a coffee at the Starbucks meeting knew that people can be as difficult as putting an equation Mathematics, not to mention the loneliness that a person may feel not doing something that seems to be very simple.
“I always had a stutter. “But it didn’t really get my insecurities around him until I was in eighth grade and secondary. That’s where, obviously, I was known for playing basketball.”
Kidd-Gilchrist said that as his popularity grew on the floor, outside the floor. The requests to interview it and that they can speak in the place increased. He said it was “difficult” to drive.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, #14, battle with Tyshawn Taylor, #10, in the first half of April 2, 2012. (IMAGN)
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“I have been lucky to have the family I have. But in regards to a person who stutter, it had been just me. It had been just me from school to university and professionals,” he said. “I knew that at one point I would not only advocate for myself but for my family.”
Kidd-Gilchrist turned his personal struggle into a long-term vision for change.
He founded Change & Impact Inc. to help those who stutter to receive better medical care and more access and resources help make a difference, along with awareness about stuttering and dissipating myths around them.
Some of the myths include that those who stutter are nervous, little intelligent, stressed or that stuttering can be “trapped” through imitation or listening to someone more stuttering or that an easy solution is simply breathing.
As Kidd-Gilchrist and others know, that is far from the case.
“I think that for many people who do not know about stuttering, they think that people are silly or unintelling, or are ignorant or rude, but that is not the case for us,” he explained. “We simply stutter. So, we just have to take our time with certain words. I hope to be among the people who are defenses not only of those who stutter but also for those who aspire to be themselves.
November 18, 2017; Charlotte, NC, USA.; The striker of the Charlotte Hornets, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, #14, works the ball inside the Clippers guard, Lou Williams, #23, during the first quarter in Spectrum Center. (Jim Dedmon-USA Today Sports)
“I am not perfect, but I think many people have thought that I is perfect due to what I did as a athlete. I hope people take note of what I am doing and simply aspires to be themselves.”
The idea for change and impact was conceived of the NBA covid bubble, when the players were forced to isolate themselves when the League restarted the 2019-20 season in Orlando, Florida. Kidd-Gilchrist said he thought about how he wanted to make a change in the world and what he could do when teammates and colleagues around them had advocated charitable causes.
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“I am sitting in my room, and I am like, man, I had many bad experiences in that I tried to convey a message in school when I was a child, in high school or at the university where I was ashamed,” he explained. “But then, it was a time when people had a little more empathy towards everything and anything. I took note of that and wanted to stop playing.”
He said he thought it was finally time to be himself and “no longer run.” In addition to that, he had a family and wanted to be more day to day.
Since then, Kidd-Gilchrist has worked personally with state legislators in Kentucky and Pennsylvania to approve invoices that require health insurance coverage for speech therapy for those who stutter. Govs. Andy Beshear and Josh Shapiro signed invoices in the law during the last year.
“I am honored to have been the sponsor of bill 111 of the Senate, and I’m glad Kentucky is the first of the states in the country where Michael will bring this important work and this important change,” then republican the state senator From Kentucky, Whitney Westerfield, he said in April. “Michael, thanks for your defense. Using your history and platform to do good to others is what we are all called to do.”
Kidd-Gilchrist said he is working with legislators in several other states to obtain similar legislation, including New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Illinois, Massachusetts and Nevada.
The striker of the Charlotte Hornets, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, #14, poses for a photo during the media day at the Spectrum center in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 25, 2017. (Jeremy Brevard-USA Today Sports)
The organization has said that access to speech therapy for children can improve their recovery possibilities. Most children begin to stutter between the ages of 2 and 5 years and that stuttering has shown to have a genetic basis.
For those who fight with the subject, he offered some words of hope.
“Each child has their own deal with the way they deal with stuttering,” he said. “But I will say, rely on those you know well and know that there are better days ahead and seek friendship.”
