joe biden on stuttering: 'don't let it define you'

but on tuesday night, during the first of three u.s. presidential debates, he faced the world’s most powerful bully .

stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder that affects 70 million people worldwide, 290,000 of whom are canadian. someone who stutters knows what they want to say — they just have difficulty saying it. according to the mayo clinic, symptoms include brief silences, anxiety about talking, difficulty starting a word, or prolonging and repeating sounds , syllables, and words. it’s not known what causes someone to stutter, but there may be a genetic component — two thirds of people who stutter have a family member who also stutters.

there’s a common misperception that people who stutter are scared, anxious, or unintelligent. in biden’s case, his stammers have prompted people to comment on his age and mental fitness . in fact, stuttering does not affect intelligence. but it does tend to become more pronounced when a person is feeling under stress, hurried, pressured, or emotional.

“my son, my son, my son — like a lot people, like a lot of people you know at home — had a drug problem,” said biden . “he’s overtaken it, he’s fixed it, he’s worked on it. and i’m proud of him. i’m proud of my son.”

i’ve worked my whole life to overcome a stutter. and it’s my great honor to mentor kids who have experienced the same. it’s called empathy. look it up. https://t.co/0kd0ujr9rs

— joe biden (@joebiden) december 20, 2019

“for him, being a person who stutters, means he’s overcome something major in his life,” says mary wood, a member of the canadian stuttering association . wood had a stutter for 60 years, which she has mostly overcome now through years of working on self-acceptance and strengthening self-esteem. she   now works as a minister with unity church in mississauga. she has also seen biden speak at a national stuttering association conference a decade ago.

biden has spoken publicly about his stutter for years. in 2011, he wrote a personal essay for   people , recalling his childhood reciting emerson and yeats in front of a mirror, adjusting the cadence of his speech, and getting bullied in latin class at his all-male prep school.

struggling from childhood to college

in a feature published in the atlantic,  biden goes into detail about struggling with a stutter throughout childhood and college — from the “anger, rage, humiliation,” he faced after a catholic nun called him, “mr. buh-buh-buh-biden” in the seventh grade, to how he’s mostly overcome his stutter today, from constantly reciting poetry to annotating his speeches with breath marks . he continues to work with children living with speech disorders.

“i hope what they see is: be mindful of people who are in situations where their difficulties do not define their character, their intellect,” biden told the atlantic, referring to public perceptions of his stuttering. “because that’s what i tell stutterers. you can’t let it define you.”

biden’s advice

in 2015, biden sent a letter to the stuttering foundation of america with advice to those who struggle with stuttering:

dduong@postmedia.com | @dianaduo
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