Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Is the 2024 Recipient of ASHA’s Prestigious Annie Glenn Award

September 26, 2024

(Rockville, MD) Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, an advocate for persons who stutter and a former college basketball national champion who went on to play in the National Basketball Association, will be honored with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's (ASHA) Annie Glenn Award at the organization's convention in Seattle, Washington this December.

Named after the late Annie Glenn, a devoted champion for people with communication disorders, the award is presented to individuals who do much the same. Since the first award was presented to the late actor James Earl Jones in 1987, other recipients have included "Miracle on the Hudson" pilot Captain Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger; President Joe Biden; former National Football League player Steve Gleason and his wife Michel Gleason; former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords and her husband U.S. Senator Mark Kelly; and actor Julie Andrews.

Kidd-Gilchrist is the CEO of Change & Impact, a nonprofit organization he founded in 2021 which is dedicated to improving health care access for individuals who stutter and expanding the resources available to them. He travels the country on the Change & Impact Stuttering Awareness Tour-speaking at universities and colleges; visiting children's hospitals; conducting free continuing education programs; and hosting events for individuals who stutter.

Additionally, Kidd-Gilchrist is a voice for the stuttering community before federal and state legislators. Last year on Capitol Hill, he facilitated the establishment of the Bipartisan Unified Voices Caucus, which advocates for individuals with communication challenges and primarily focuses on stuttering. This year, Kentucky passed a state mandate that would require insurance plans to include coverage for habilitative and rehabilitative speech therapy treatment for childhood stuttering-the first such requirement ever, according to Change & Impact. Kidd-Gilchrist is continuing to advocate in bipartisan ways for similar results in eight other states.

"I am deeply humbled to receive The Annie Award for advocacy work that holds such personal meaning to me," said Kidd-Gilchrist. "I would like to thank ASHA for selecting me to join such an amazing list of past award recipients for this great honor. There is so much more to be done in the stuttering community, and I'm committed to keeping our positive momentum moving forward."

"We are very pleased to honor Michael with this year's Annie Award," said ASHA 2024 Tena L. McNamara, AuD, CCC-A/SLP. "His advocacy is very inspiring as well as critical for bringing about positive change. Congratulations, Michael. We look forward to honoring you in Seattle."

About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 234,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology assistants; and students. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment, including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) identify, assess, and treat speech, language, and swallowing disorders.