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Behind The Stripes

Chase Johnson

By Atlanta United FC

March 7^th, 2022

It was February 27 and Mercedes-Benz Stadium was just as loud and crazy as Chase Johnson expected it’d be. Atlanta United’s home stadium was packed to the rafters for the first match of the team’s regular season in what was the most attended match on MLS opening weekend.

Chase stood on the capo stand gazing out over the field looking out for one of his favorite players, Josef Martínez. At the foot of the supporters’ section known as The Gulch, the stand is arguably the loudest spot in the stadium. The chants were going, supporters were beating drums, music was playing over the loudspeakers. And the 9-year-old had his hands in his pockets, calmly taking it all in.

On Sunday, Chase was a mini-celebrity. Leaders of supporters groups, decked out in face paint and Atlanta United gear, came onto the capo stand carrying megaphones. They fist-bumped Chase and ask him if he’s excited for the match. Chase’s mom beamed nearby and took photos of Chase from every angle. In his face was a cell phone recorder capturing every word he said.

“To have him stand here and do an interview with you, a person he’s never met before, with everything going on and for him to be okay with that, that's amazing,” his mom said.

It seemed like a high-pressure moment, but Chase completely held his own. Chase was the beneficiary from the Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research selected to be the honorary captain for Atlanta United’s MLS opener against Sporting Kansas City.

The center was formed in 2020 from a generous $20 million grant from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. Arthur Blank, the club’s owner and a person who stutters himself, made the donation to establish a center that would advance programs to help and provide resources to people who stutter and their families.

Dr. Courtney Byrd, a professor and speech language pathologist at the University of Texas at Austin, is the center’s founding director. Byrd is one of the leaders in stuttering treatment research and is known for using a positive, therapeutic approach that builds confidence.

Kia Johnson, Chase’s mom and a speech language pathologist herself, knows Dr. Byrd well. The two overlapped while they were getting their doctorates. Now, Johnson is an associate director at the Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research. She recently moved with her son from Texas to expand the center’s work at a satellite campus here in Georgia.

“It’s an honor to be able to work in a job where it doesn't feel like a job because I'm able to provide various areas for people and kids to be able to get the services that they need,” she said. “To be able to bring those services to Atlanta, it’s amazing. I look at the families that we're working with here in Atlanta and in Georgia, it's just an amazing opportunity.”

The center’s location in Atlanta officially opened in December, and there’s such a high demand for its services that there’s already a waiting list. The center has partnered with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to design and conduct workshops. They also welcome college students from universities all around Georgia to participate and learn from the center’s offerings.

“It’s just blossoming,” Johnson said. “So, I'm very proud to know that the team, collectively in Austin and Atlanta and Nashville, that we all come together to make things happen so that kids like mine are able to benefit from the resources.”

Her education in speech language pathology and experience raising a kid who stutters has given Johnson a holistic view of the stuttering community. Not only does she have hands-on experience working with speech, but she understands the needs of the wider community, a perspective that allows her to especially value Blank’s commitment to inclusivity.

In the program, Johnson said, they make sure everyone has access. The goal is to provide expertise and services to underprivileged families who may not have great insurance. Even when it comes to finding students to work in the center, they want to extend the opportunity to all universities around Georgia, including historically Black colleges and universities.

“Stuttering is in need of diversity when it comes to experts in the area,” she said. “To be able to be in a place where I’m able to contribute to that, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I am so very grateful to be part of the team and to be doing this.”

Leaders at the Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education seek to change the stigma around stuttering. At the center, students are taught to view stuttering not as a hindrance but a part of who they are. Just like how some people wear glasses, some people stutter.

“Kids who stutter need to know that it's not anything to be ashamed of, it's not anything that you should be afraid to tell people about,” Johnson said. “You can actually be a person who stutters and has experiences. For him to be able to be here for the season opener to be the honorary captain, it’s just another seed for me to say stuttering doesn't hold you back from anything.”

The center offers an intensive therapy camp every summer for kids who stutter. The program, called Camp Dream. Speak. Live. has proven to increase positive perception around stuttering and help kids feel comfortable communicating in a way that prevents stuttering from diminishing their quality of life.

It’s this positive lesson that has taught Chase, and kids like him, that he can be who he is and have experiences like the one he had at the Atlanta United match.

“I’ve learned that what I have to say is important,” he said.

It could very well be that Chase plays a bigger role with Atlanta United in the future. When he grows up, he wants to be a striker and play professionally. (With a little prodding from his mom, he said he also wants to be a lawyer, conceding that maybe it’s something he can do in his offseasons.)

He already fits the part. He wore a BLVCK kit to the match and seemed intrigued by the new Forest Kit recently released by the club, which some fans were already wearing in the stands. But whatever he chooses to be, and whichever path he takes, Chase knows that it’s absolutely possible.

“You can be whatever you want to, even if you stutter.”

Story by Sandy McAfee / Photos by Jacob Gonzalez, Dakota Williams

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