Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Joe Biden

Joe Biden, the vice presidential candidate on the democractic ticket with Obama, was once a stutterer!
WHEN Joe Biden was a youngster he had a stutter, cruelly earning him the name Bi-Bi-Biden. He conquered that affliction to become one of the Senate's great talkers and Barack Obama's pick as his vice-presidential running mate.

As a child, Biden stuttered and was teased by his classmates. He practiced reading aloud in front of a mirror and worked hard to overcome it. During law school he befriended a stutterer and worked with him regularly on his speech. Now Biden is known as a loquacious orator.

In the Biden family, children were taught to respect Catholicsm, but not necessarily the person in it. As a boy, Biden took endless ribbing from classmates for a stutter he later overcame. Much of the time, the nuns tried to help. But when a seventh-grade teacher mimicked Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-Biden's stutter in front of the class, his mother, Jean, demanded a meeting with the principal and the offending nun. "If you ever speak to my son like that again, I'll come back and rip that bonnet off your head," she said. Later, when then-Senator Biden told her he was going to visit the pope, she said: "Don't you kiss his ring."

Check out this NSA story. I can already see the stuttering associations world-wide salivating on the prospect of a golden opportunity to spread the message!

(Thanks to Ora for the story)

5 comments:

Scooby said...

Wow, this story is just incredible. I don't necessarily like Biden (don't actively dislike him) but this news caught me so off guard. As a life long stutter (currently age 36) who is in a "good place" with my stuttering, I haven't really thought about my suttering too much in recent years. I am very surprised I am so moved by this news, but I am. Just incredible to me.

Anonymous said...

I, too, amd glad for Mr. Biden. I don't like his politics in the least bit, but I am glad he has overcome his stuttering. It sounds like he overcame stuttering by reading outloud in front of a mirror and helping another person he knew who stutters deal with stuttering.
Man, I have read outloud a ton, and when I am by myself, I don't stutter at all. When people are around me, I sure do stutter alot, even when I read outloud. I am a member of the NSA and do support others who stutter in their struggles with stuttering.
What am I missing to be like Joe Biden? Maybe I need to become a democrat! ;-)

MS said...

This was a surprise for me. I too stutter and 'm 36 yrs old. Immigrated to Canada and successfully able to settle in a short span. I have even undergone speech therapy towards it, but have learned that this problem is controllable and cannot be eradicated, which has brought me down. After reading to Joe Biden's story one thing is clear that this can be eradicated too, just wondering is it possible after 36 yrs of age also? If yes, please provide me guide to it. I'll like to go through this process and change my life drastically.
WWR.

Hello.. said...

Well seems like the strength of willpower is immeasurable. I believe u can Overcome if u believe to the very core of ur being that stuttering is not permanent.

Anonymous said...

Based upon my experiences working on my stuttering both using a well known speech therapy program and doing all kinds of therapy I would say that Joe Biden had a very good support system as a child that makes all the difference whether a person will be able to overcome his speech problem as an adult..his mother saying " "If you ever speak to my son like that again, I'll come back and rip that bonnet off your head" is a great Mom and shows her concern about the feelings of her child. I don't remember my mother ever saying something like that. Also I had a parent who stuttered so the concern was for him not me as he was the breadwinner so stuttering was something I could only mention. I would bet Joe did not have a parent who stuttered. Just some random thoughts....