In moving speech, boy says Biden helped him overcome stutter

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By WILL WEISSERT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even in a week filled with emotional endorsements of Joe Biden, Brayden Harrington’s stands out.

The 13-year-old boy sat in his home, speaking to a cellphone camera and reading, carefully, from a piece of paper. He looked up and told the world how the former vice president, by speaking about his own experience, had helped him overcome a difficult challenge.

“We stutter,” Brayden said in a video that aired Thursday, shortly before Biden accepted his party’s presidential nomination on Thursday’s final night of the Democratic National Convention. The Concord, New Hampshire, teen got stuck briefly on the “s” sound and bravely worked his way through the word. His face showed strain but also determination to force out the sound.

“It’s really amazing to hear that someone became vice president” despite stuttering, Brayden said. “He told me about a book of poems by Yeats that he would read out loud to practice.”



In this image from video, Brayden Harrington speaks as Julia Louis-Dreyfus, serving as moderator, listens during the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. (Democratic National Convention via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/30951d24b0dab8b9ced01704d8ee9f2c

[Gothmog]

1. I have met Joe in person and we discussed suttering

I stuttered through 4th grade. It still affected me during debate days at the college level. My college debate coach had me see a speech therapist for a while. I did not have a stutter then but college debate involved speaking at a very fast pace to get as much in as possible and I was great at taking arguments apart but I could not speak as fast as needed to be a top flight college debater. I eventually dropped debate and raised my GPA from a 3.6 to GPA of 3.8+ and graduated with honors. I ended up not being a litigator in part because I was really good at corporate law and accounting and in part because I was only a decent speaker. I give speeches from time to time at events and testified before the Texas house and senate on redistricting but I do not use prepares speeches.

During pre-school, we were told that my son was mentally retarded by a lady who was a good friend of one of my law partners (this lady ran the Jewish pre-school and was well respected in the community). My son like me had a language processing issue. My son did not stutter but he was quiet and did not speak much early on. My son had a great deal of unreimbursed speech development therapy and now we can not keep him quiet. My son ended going to the top academic private school in Houston, being on the Nerd Squad (academic challenge), becoming an eagle scout with only 55 merit badges, getting a great scholarship, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and getting into a top 15 law school. Now he is up for partner as a major law firm.

I met Joe twice at fundraisers and got to talk to Joe about stuttering. He gave me a hug and told me about th 20+ kids who he is contact with. I believe in Joe

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[flibbitygiblets]

2. Wow, what an inspirational story of your own--thank you so much for sharing!

That kid's speech was absolutely the most heartwarming thing I've seen in a long time. Not a dry eye in my house, and we were cheering for the kid at the end.

Joe Biden is everything this country needs at this time of so much pain and despair.