Fred Gingell’s positive influence on B.C. continues to live on long after his passing in July of 1999.
While serving as an MLA from 1991 until 1999, Gingell, himself a person who stutters, advocated for funding for adults who stutter to receive intensive stuttering treatment.
His successful campaign for this cause resulted in what is now known as the Fred Gingell Memorial Stuttering Treatment Grant. While established in 1995, it was renamed in his honour after his passing in 1999.
Since the mid-1990s, this grant has funded more than 200 British Columbians who stutter to receive intensive treatment at Vancouver’s Columbia Speech and Language Services, Inc.
“Every year, as we get ready to welcome new participants at our clinic, I think of Fred Gingell with immense gratitude for the enormous contribution he has made to the lives of people who stutter in B.C.,” says Wendy Duke, a veteran speech language pathologist and co-developer of the Columbia program.
Anthony Intas, who was treasurer of the BC Association of People who Stutter (BCAPS) throughout the 1990s, remembers Gingell fondly as an “inspiration, mentor, friend and kindred spirit.”
In fact, these are the words inscribed on a plaque placed in Fred Gingell Park years ago by Intas and other members of BCAPS.
Duke, along with her colleagues, has been offering intensive treatment at her clinic since the mid-1990s. The clinic, which takes place annually, provides up to 100 hours of treatment over a one-month period.
Kingsley Eze, a graduate student who is originally from Nigeria, but now calls Vancouver home, and Judy Briton, a long-term driving school employee from North Vancouver, may seem like they have nothing in common, but, both were funded by the Fred Gingell Grant; Briton in 2005 and Eze in 2020.
“The stuttering clinic has improved my speech flow and enabled me to express my ideas fluently,” said Eze.
Both are grateful to Gingell for what he has done for them.
The Fred Gingell Memorial Stuttering Treatment Grant will fund eligible applicants in Duke’s upcoming clinic, which begins on Nov. 12.
Registration information, including information about the grant, can be found at: www.columbiaspeech.com/stuttering or by contacting info@columbiaspeech.com.
