Cork campaigner meets US President Joe Biden in White House

Mr Googan who hails from Clonakilty is the co-founder of an organisation called Stuttering Awareness Mental Wellbeing Ireland (SAMWI).

He is also a board member with the World Stuttering Network.

Mr Googan said he established the organisation to help improve the quality of life for people who stutter. “I live with a stutter and for the last five years have made it my mission to give hope and practical support to those who live with the condition as well as to their immediate families. The organisation I established with some like-minded individuals in 2020 set about improving the quality of life of those who stutter,” he said.

“Our organisation is apolitical,” said Mr Googan. “We have established support groups, published support materials for education professionals, lobbied political leaders and have set about building strong relationships with and between Irish and international third level institutions. I am driven by a desire to ensure that young people living in Ireland today do not go through the same experience I did.

“We have found many allies in the US who have been willing to help us. President Biden has always been an inspiration to me and this year I received my second invitation to visit the White House. On this occasion, with Covid restrictions removed, I finally got to meet President Biden. I got to thank him for the hope that he has provided for so many young people and tell him the impact his advocacy has had on me,” he added.

Mr Googan said the White House lived up to his expectations and is spectacular. “The White House is everything that you think it would be and more. It is spectacular. When you spend so long of your own life trying to meet a certain individual and then eventually you get to meet him it is an emotional process.”

The Cork man said he spent ten minutes talking with President Biden as they discussed their challenges and their mutual love of poetry by Seamus Heaney. “I was chatting with him for ten minutes. He made everyone else wait until we were done because he was discussing his own challenges with stuttering and I was explaining my challenges to him. We both have an interest in Seamus Heaney and we both recited a poem.”

Mr Googan credited President Biden for the role he has played in raising awareness on stuttering. “He has spoken on stuttering twice during his presidency. He spoke about it at Dublin Castle when he came to Ireland. Cork will host the World Conference on speech and language therapy next year. 250 international delegates will be coming to Ireland for this event. Awareness is growing which is the main thing. A lot of people have helped us and now it is our turn to help them have a better quality of life.”

The Cork campaigner admits he will be keeping a close eye on the race for the White House later this year as he hopes to make a return visit to Washington. “I would sincerely hope to visit the White House again someday. We will have to see how the election goes later this year. We have a lot of fantastic friends in the House of Representatives and even with the White House staff. We will be working closely with them to create that whole awareness.”