Last year, Harry Abramson wrote President Biden a letter, asking him one big question: How did he overcome his stutter?<\/p>\n
According to Biden\u2019s campaign, Harry, 9, wrote to the president for advice \u2014 saying that maybe, if he learned how to control his stutter, he, too, could one day be president.<\/p>\n
Biden, who regularly talks about his struggles with a stutter and the work he\u2019s put into overcoming it, wrote back. And, on Wednesday, he met with Harry during a visit to Milwaukee to personally deliver some advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t let anybody tell you that you can\u2019t do anything,\u201d Biden told Harry, according to a Biden campaign video. \u201cYou can do whatever you want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden has spoken at length about how he was made fun of as a child for stuttering, experiences he\u2019s said helped him understand how to deal with bullies \u2014 including former president Donald Trump, who has repeatedly mocked Biden for his stutter, most recently at a campaign rally on Saturday. During his rambling speech, Trump asked the crowd sarcastically if Biden would \u201cbring the country t-t-t-together\u201d while talking about Biden\u2019s State of the Union address. Transcripts of the speech show that Biden did not say that.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s remarks immediately drew scorn from disability advocates, who called his mockery a demeaning form of bullying and \u201cdehumanization.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the president told Harry that, when he was younger, he used to be bullied because he used to \u201cfind it hard to talk on the telephone or stand up in front of people and talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people would make fun of it, like this president making fun,\u201d Biden said, referencing Trump and his mockery. \u201cBut remember \u2014 look at me \u2014 you\u2019re smart, you\u2019re handsome, you know what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president then told Harry the story of Brayden Harrington, a teenager Biden met during his 2020 presidential run who, like Harry, had contacted the former vice president for advice on handling a stutter. By August, Brayden was delivering a powerful address at the Democratic National Convention describing how Biden had inspired him to reach higher.<\/p>\n
Biden gave Harry a few tips Wednesday on how he navigates his speeches with a stutter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put a little mark on my speeches,\u201d Biden said, showing Harry a copy of his remarks and the places in the text where he adds pauses.<\/p>\n
Harry, I\u2019ve struggled with a stutter all of my life. Thank you for telling me about yours, and don\u2019t let anyone tell you it will stop you from achieving your dreams. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m proud of you. pic.twitter.com\/IVITt9vifJ<\/p>\n
\u2014 Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 14, 2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Trump\u2019s remarks over the weekend were not the first time the former president has taunted Biden for his stutter. In January, Trump accused Biden of stuttering through a speech and then play-acted as if he were Biden. Biden did not stutter in the speech Trump was referencing.<\/p>\n
About 3 million Americans stutter, a communication disorder in which speech is not fluent because syllables or words are repeated or prolonged. The causes of stuttering are not fully known, but genetics can contribute. Stuttering has long been misunderstood and stigmatized.<\/p>\n
Biden has spoken openly about how he has overcome the kind of stutter that was debilitating for him as a child. He gave a speech in 2016 to the American Institute for Stuttering, sharing the childhood shame he felt but also crediting it for widening his perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned so much from having to deal with stuttering,\u201d Biden said. \u201cIt gave me insight into other people\u2019s pain, other people\u2019s suffering. It made me understand that everyone, everyone has something they\u2019re fighting to overcome \u2014 and sometimes trying to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lauren Weber and Carolyn Y. Johnson contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Last year, Harry Abramson wrote President Biden a letter, asking him one big question: How did he overcome his stutter? According to Biden\u2019s campaign, Harry, 9, wrote to the president for advice \u2014 saying that maybe, if he learned how to control his stutter, he, too, could one day be president. Biden, who regularly talks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}