Biden's legacy to people who stammer, like me

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Brandon

Brandon Black from the USA looks back at Joe Biden's presidency and asks what it meant for people who stammer.

How will history remember Joe Biden's presidency, let alone the decades he spent in public service? While political commentators, academics and journalists dissect and critique Biden's political career, the way he spoke is what I'll remember most. Like the former American president, I too, struggle with a stutter.

An estimated three million Americans (about one percent) stutter, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Like Biden, I developed a stutter in childhood. Reading aloud from a textbook wasn't easy. Certain words brought me to a standstill — as if they were locked inside an impenetrable box. Giving a class presentation was hell on earth. 

Unlike my classmates, friends and family who spoke without any issues, my stutter was debilitating. The film The King's Speech perfectly captures what stuttering sounds like, what it looks like, how it makes the speaker feel, and how others perceive the speaker.

Speech therapy helped me with some of the mechanics of speaking. I learned to enunciate my words, particularly the syllables that gave me problems. Breathing exercises slowed the speed at which I spoke. It also controlled my anxiety before giving a class presentation.

Still, none of these techniques cured me of disfluent speech and involuntary facial contortions while talking, like my jaw clenching or my eyes flickering as if I were performing Morse code. I never felt comfortable, let alone confident, speaking.

Whether you admire or revile the man, Biden is the only president in U.S. history to occupy the highest office as someone with a speech impediment. That's worth remembering.

In my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I was bullied and teased because of my stutter — just like the former president. I'll never forget the embarrassment and shame I felt amongst my classmates after a group yelled "stutter, stutter" while walking by the open door of my classroom. I experienced bouts of depression and even thought of quitting school. My grades and self-esteem suffered. 

Yet I persevered. And I'm more courageous and self-confident because of this lifelong struggle. Stuttering is part of my identity, but it does not define me. When Biden talks about 'overcoming' his stutter, he recalls a poem by William Butler Yeats that he memorised in childhood and frequently recited to himself at home while standing in front of a mirror: "Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before."

For a minority of Americans who stutter — and roughly one percent of the world's population — achieving fluency, however fleeting, may seem impossible. After all, no cure for stuttering exists, though some children go on to speak fluently. Still, it is a never-ending trial of willpower.

In 2015, then-Vice President Biden wrote a letter to The Stuttering Foundation of America in which he addressed this issue while also offering a reason for optimism: "When you commit yourself to a goal and when you persevere in the face of struggle, you will discover new strengths and skills to help you overcome not only this challenge, but future life challenges as well."

Joe Biden arrived in Washington, D.C. as a freshman senator in 1972. The ensuing decades in service to the American people, including as President Obama's vice president, is a remarkable feat. Say what you will about his legislative and leadership records, but whether you admire or revile the man, Biden is the only president in U.S. history to occupy the highest office as someone with a speech impediment. That's worth remembering.

Brandon Black lives in Seattle, Washington and has contributed to Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, The Seattle Times, and other publications.

Related articles:

• What is Biden's legacy for stammering?
• Biden's missed opportunities

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