Reflections on Winning the 2026 Disability
Smart Impact Leader Award

 By Iain Wilkie

Being judged positively by one’s peers, as a leader making a difference for a cause we care about, is a wonderful moment. Yet nothing could prepare me for the immense adrenaline rush as Diane Lightfoot announced me as the winner of the Disability Smart Impact ‘Leader Award’ 2026 last week.

There are 50 million adults of employable age in the world who stammer. This is a huge talent pool often overlooked by employers obsessed with the fluency of speech rather than the content of what is being said.

I hope that by being comfortable to stammer openly in my acceptance speech, it shows that stammering voices very often connect well with their audiences, and that stammerers can be good leaders and even award-winning ones!

The name of our charity ‘50 Million Voices "represents the size of our dream: a world where every adult who stammers can get a good job - and perhaps even the job of their dreams".

If you’re an employer, ally, funder or person who stammers and would like to learn more, I’d love to hear from you. The best way is via our email: info@50millionvoices.org

A huge thank you to Diane Lightfoot, John McCalla-Leacy, the Business Disability Forum team and hosts HSBC for a wonderful event last week. Plus, a mega thank you to our 50 Million Voices core team, trustees, volunteers, allies, employers and the many people who stammer from around the world who are supporting our work – this award is for all of us.

Finally, here’s the video of Diane L introducing me and my acceptance speech. It’s short on corporate jargon and long on gratitude and emotion. Most importantly, it connected with my audience!