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Veteran
07/24/25
Ex-NBA Player Kidd-Gilchrist’s New Arena Is Advocacy Against Speech Stigma
By Analah Wallace | OBSERVER Staff Writer - Ex-NBA player Michael Kidd-Gilchrist visits the Capitol to advocate for legislation to ensure insurance covers speech therapy, fighting to increase accessibility for Black communities.
sacobserver.com
To some, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is an athlete, a friend, or a loving father. To others, he is the reason a family can afford to get their child speech therapy in their formative years.
Now working nationally as a stuttering awareness advocate, Kidd-Gilchrist has helped get stutter-accommodating bills passed in four states and is working to get another signed into law in California.
Kidd-Gilchrist, 31, has had a stutter since he was a kid. He recounted that despite having people around him who supported him, he still felt isolated.
“Of all my friends and family,” Kidd-Gilchrist said, “I was the only one who had a stutter.”
A gifted athlete who won an NCAA title with Kentucky in 2012 and enjoyed an eight-year NBA career, Kidd-Gilchrist said he was lucky to always have people around him who supported him, but that it didn’t mean he didn’t face moments of mistreatment due to his speech.
He recalled hearing people call him “dumb” or “stupid,” particularly after games.
It was through these experiences that he decided he wanted to start doing advocacy work around stuttering awareness and accommodation. “I just want to break the stigma around stutters,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “It’s not all bad.”
When he began to get into the political space, Kidd-Gilchrist didn’t think he would have a chance at being heard. Not only did he have a stutter, but he acknowledged that he was a “minority of a minority,” being a Black man with a speech disability. He said he knew he would likely face discrimination regardless, so he was going to commit fully to advocacy. So far, Kidd-Gilchrist has helped pass bills in Kentucky, Nevada, Pennsylvania and New York
These bills allow children with speech disabilities to have their therapy completely covered by insurance. His next goal is to get a similar bill passed in California. Joined by the organization Proud Stutter, Kidd-Gilchrist on July 9 visited the Capitol to advocate for his cause.
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