I know this definitely isn’t the most pressing issue facing the country in the next 4 years, but as a person who stutters I wanted to share some thoughts about Biden’s speech and the way it’s talked about. A thread!

You might not be able to tell that someone has a stutter, because most of us spend a ton of energy trying to hide it. Just because you don’t hear Biden stammering doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a stutter—will explain:

For example, I have a lot of trouble with “W” so I avoid saying sentences that start with W (super hard, as most questions do). Eg instead of “what is your name?” I’ll say “I didn’t catch your name?” You might never hear me stutter, because I know how to avoid tough sounds.

Rearranging words in my head all the time takes a lot of energy! And sometimes you can’t avoid a word, like when people ask your name. I’ve been asked “Did you forget your name???” sooo many times.

When Biden appears to “forget” his name or Obama’s name or the position he’s running for, that is him realizing that the words won’t be able to come out, so he has to pause a second to figure out what to say instead. This happens to me allllll the time

I’ve heard some people say that he doesn’t have a stutter because he didn’t use to talk this way—not only has he spoken about stuttering as a child, but fluency can go up and down based on stress, who you’re talking to, the volume in the room, or just randomly.

If you want to see how it feels: pick three sounds (eg H, W, S) and try having a conversation where you can’t use any words that start with those letters. It takes time to work around it!

Basically: making fun of the way Biden speaks isn’t the ~own~ you think it is. Criticize his policies and actions, but mocking someone’s speech impediment because you don’t agree with what they say is ableist.

You can make it easier for people who stutter by:
-not interrupting, and calling out people who do
-not finishing someone’s sentences for them
-having patience + maintaining eye contact, even though it can feel awkward to hear someone stuttering

Thank you for reading! happy to chat more or answer questions