Though former vice president and now Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has consistently been portrayed as gaffe-prone, many moments where he appears to struggle are due to his stutter, Eric S. Jackson says.
Pundits and journalists describe Biden’s speeches as filled with moments of “bumbling” and “stumbling,” triggering questions about the candidate’s mental fitness and hinting at possible age-related cognitive decline. The media regularly use these theories as an opportunity to explore the issue of age as it relates to the candidate, and to question whether Biden is up to the exhaustive challenge of running for the nation’s highest office.
“The fact that Biden still stutters and might be president is powerful for young children who speak like him…”
While some of Biden’s comments are indeed mistakes, his stutter is also a lifelong challenge that he has openly discussed during interviews,
As a scientist who studies stuttering in children and adults, and as a person who stutters himself, Jackson, a professor of communicative sciences and disorders at the Steinhardt school at New York University, has been frustrated by the national discussion around Biden’s speech.
Here, Jackson explains Biden’s stuttering and the significance of having a major presidential candidate who stutters:
The post Why Joe Biden’s stutter is a big deal appeared first on Futurity.
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