Biden hasn’t let his stutter be what defines him For MS Awareness Month, recognize warriors fighting the disease
Like President Biden, I am a stutterer or, more accurately, a controlled stutterer. In a poll asking whether they believe Biden stutters or ever stuttered, 80 percent to 95 percent say he has not. However, if you define a stutterer as someone who has faltered or thinks about the possibility that he might stutter in some situations, Biden qualifies as do I.
Every president preps for the State of the Union speech, but Biden, according to reports, considered his speech impediment for his one-hour, 13-minute presentation.
During the second presidential primary debate, Biden’s speech impediment was evident. Afterward, Fox News compiled a mini montage of Biden’s stumbles that commentator Steve Hilton
My Fellow Orlando MS Warriors,
March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness month — our month.
March is when we as a community work to bring more awareness to our daily struggles revolving around living with an invisible and incurable autoimmune disease. When we explain how quickly life changes after diagnosis. When we don’t hide our symptoms from the world. When we know that finding a cure is so close, yet so far for many.
Multiple sclerosis is unique, and no two patients are alike. Our symptoms manifest from narrated with thinly veiled laughter.
Often, new friends don’t know I stutter or have ever stuttered. For most stutterers, stuttering is situational — the phone, introductions, public speaking, and, of course, certain sounds are typically the most problematic. A control stutterer, such as the president, still anticipates having stuttering episodes.
While teaching at a university, I was a faculty adviser to psychology club students. I once asked those taking my classes if my stutter bothered them. They laughed. Your stutter is minor. It makes your class interesting. Another professor says “um” so often that we count. My students were being gracious and kind, looking at the big picture more than I could at that time.
Their message coincided with that of a therapist who helped me move from the negative self-label, “stutterer,” to put the situation into perspective. Since then, my self-talk has fallen along the line wherever the nerve damage is located along our central nervous systems. Our immune systems attack the nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing irreparable damage.
My sister and I both live with MS, yet our symptoms are different. I lost my vision in one eye while my sister lost feeling in her arms and legs. I have muscle spasms while she has difficulty moving her fingers and toes.
We both experience pain that makes you weak in the knees and fatigue that makes you want to sleep for days. These symptoms make living with multiple sclerosis challenging and discouraging at times, but my symptoms have also made me a stronger person.
My level of compassion for others is far greater than before. I of, “I’m a fluent speaker whose speech is occasionally dysfunctional.” As Biden has said, “You can’t let it define who you are,” and he doesn’t.
But Biden does have a stutterer’s history. One boy at baseball camp called Biden “Stutter Boy! Stutter Boy!” as if he was calling a dog. In the seventh grade, a nun calling on the young Biden said, ‘Mr. Buh-Buh-Buh-Biden, what’s that word?’”
Such scarring stories don’t disappear easily, and I have my own. John Hendrickson, a writer for Atlantic magazine and a stutterer, has written eloquently about Biden’s speech impediment, including a description of Biden’s childhood.
Imagine the experience of awakening each day, anticipating what potential humiliations await you: the shame, the likely bullying. Stutters are not victims, although they may feel that way at times. Many childhood disabilities are equal and more challenging. Nevertheless, the experience hear this often from other people living with MS as well.
We’ve all had our moments where making the journey from bed to couch to bathroom was all we could muster. We’ve all had days where everything’s too bright, too loud, too much. We’ve all had days with endless calls to doctors and insurance, endless tests and scans, and endless worry over the progression of our disease. We’ve all had pain that takes your breath away, leaving behind dizziness and fear that it will only get worse.
We’ve all been there. We’ve all battled our way through the hard moments like the warriors we are.
You are not alone. I worry, just like you, about going blind and paralyzed. I worry about choking on my food and pills, worry that introduces a young person to what it is like to be singled out.
Empathy can easily follow. According to Hendrickson, Biden regularly characterizes stuttering as “the best thing that ever happened” to him. “Stuttering gave me an insight I don’t think I ever would have had into other people’s pain.”
Psychologically, it’s easy to imagine where much of that empathy originates. Remember Brayden Harrington, the 13-year-old Biden befriended during his 2020 campaign who bravely gave a testimonial to vote for the president? To vicariously sense the anguish of an adolescent’s stuttering, watch as Brayden struggles with words and feel his challenges as he meets a difficult sound. That was me at age 13, and probably Biden too.
Biden is best known for his empathy and sensitivity. Those characteristics have done him well, even with political adversaries. Sen. Mitch McConnell famously calls the president “a real friend” and “a man of honor.” one day I won’t be able to breathe on my own or tell my family and friends I love them. I’ve already had scares with each of these, just like many of you.
MS Awareness month is our opportunity to share these worries with our community, who may not even realize they know someone who lives with MS. Our invisible disease deserves the limelight.
Warriors, find the courage to share your stories with others. Share your symptoms and bring about awareness. Get out of your comfort zones and be seen.
Our Orlando community has opportunities to participate in events around the area that help to support those living with multiple sclerosis, like Bike MS and Walk MS. The city of Orlando
McConnell’s not alone. Biden listens well yet stands up for his values. As a politician since age 27 voicing policy and viewpoints publicly, changes can be found, but his primary values stand true.
At times, Biden’s State of the Union presentation was eloquent, yet he may have stumbled for a sentence or two. I love and admire that Biden stutters occasionally. It puts his humanity out front. None of us is perfect, and we shouldn’t expect anyone to be, even presidents. I protest those who criticize Biden when he occasionally mangles a sentence as if they could have done as well, with or without a stutter.
Biden now faces another label, age. The challenge of meeting a defining label that limits your ability and dismisses your capability is one he has faced before. It’s unlikely to stop him this time, either. is even lighting up various fountains and landmarks around the city orange for MS Awareness week (March 12-18).
For more information on these events or to learn more about multiple sclerosis, check out the National MS Society’s website. (www.nationalmssociety.org) There, you can learn about MS and its treatments, find local doctors in our area that specialize in MS care, and opportunities to give back to the MS community.
Warriors are stronger when they fight together. Remember to wear orange and that MS is only a part of us, not all of us.
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