United States President Joe Biden called for American unity after four years of political divisiveness and the “raging fire” it provoked. He promised to be a president for all Americans. “I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did,” he said.
It was a message of hope and optimism. And while his intent was clearly to speak to all of America, his speech spoke in a different way to a particular community. The new president stutters, and his speech, made with the whole world watching, was a powerful example to those millions of Americans who, like me, stutter.
When I was 11-year-old, my speech-language pathologist told me: “Look, John Stossel (the television personality) stutters, and he speaks beautifully. You will be able to do that, too.”
My therapist was trying to motivate me, but the message was that my goal should be to speak perfectly.
For me, that was not the case. By the age of 14 years, I already knew my stuttering was not…