Today is...

[IceWizard]

Saturday 22 Oct 2016



Make A Difference Day



We all have opportunities every day to change the world, whether we’re adopting a Highway to patrol for litter or volunteering at a local shelter to help the homeless. It’s amazing what just a small effort by an individual or group of individuals can do to change the world, or at least their local neighborhood.

Make a difference Day was established to help encourage us to take one day a year to try to make a difference in the world.

History of Make a Difference Day

Originally created in 1992 by USA Weekend magazine, Make a Difference Day has seen a great deal of support from various organizations throughout the years, and most recently has been transferred over to USA

Today as its primarily sponsor and organizer. USA Today provides a central location for people to gather their information and report what they’re doing locally to Make a Difference.

Since its creation Make a Difference Day has helped to encourage thousands of people across the nation to start making an actual difference in the world. Contributions to making the world a better place have ranged from gathering stuffed bears for firefighters to give to injured and frightened children, to organizing relief efforts for victims of natural catastrophes like Hurricane Sandy.

Overall Make a Difference Day has spurred people to make a difference in themselves, and the world.



And



International Stuttering Awareness Day



People make jokes about everything—about blondes, about citizens of every country in the world, about men, women and children and teenagers, about cultures, history and religion, about various human conditions or mindsets… some of them are genuinely funny, and some of them are downright cruel and offensive.

In particular, jokes about disabilities can be very mean-spirited and hurtful towards those who have those disabilities as well as their friends and families. And that’s why so many different disability awareness days exist, to help us understand how much harder the lives of the disabled are, even when their disabilities seem relatively minor.

Stuttering can pose real problems in both the personal and professional lives of those suffering from it and take years to get under control, not to mention the amount of embarrassment and frustration it can cause in the meantime.

The History of International Stuttering Awareness Day

Stuttering has been the subject of interest of many physicians over the millennia, with one of the most famous stutterers being prominent Ancient Greek statesman and Demosthenes. Demosthenes, who lived in the 4th century BC, could not speak without stuttering and was often mocked by his peers, causing him to become determined to get his condition under control, especially since he was an extremely intelligent man who had plenty to say about Athens’ political situation.

One of the tactics he used was to practice speaking loud enough to be heard over the waves with pebbles in his mouth, and after much hard work, he succeeded.

Other famous people who have had to deal their stutter include the Roman Emperor Claudius, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe, and James Earl Jones, whose voice the world knows as that of Darth Vader himself.

In ancient and medieval times, herbal remedies were often recommended for stuttering, as was drinking water from a snail shell, and the most superstitious believed that the condition could be caused by tickling an infant too much or allowing it to look at itself in the mirror.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, different kinds of dangerous surgeries were prescribed to help correct a stutterer’s speech, from making small incisions in the tongue or lips to removing the tonsils, none of which were effective.

Nowadays, various kinds of fluency shaping therapy are prescribed that help the stutterer exercise more control over his or her lips, jaw and tongue.

Simply decreasing a stutterer’s stress and anxiety levels has also been shown to greatly improve speech. As a last resort, several types of medication can also be prescribed, though their effectiveness seems to be quite limited and a number of side effects great.