- Brayden Harrington, a 13-year-old boy who met Joe Biden at a campaign event earlier this year, spoke at the Democratic National Convention about how Biden helped him overcome his stutter.
- “Without Joe Biden, I would not be talking to you today,” Harrington said, adding that Biden told him they were ‘members of the same club: we stutter.’
- Harrington went on to say that Biden gave him tips on how to overcome his stutter.
- “I’m just a normal kid, and in a short time, Joe Biden made me feel more confident about something that has bothered me my whole life.”
- Scroll down to view a clip from Brayden Harrington’s speech.
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Brayden Harrington, a 13-year-old boy from New Hampshire, spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday about how Joe Biden helped him overcome his stutter after the two were allowed earlier this year.
“My name is Brayden Harrington and I’m 13 years old,” Harrington said. “And without Joe Biden, I would not be talking to you today.”
He went on to say that when he met Biden a few months ago at a New Hampshire event, Biden said they were “members of the same club.”
“We stutter,” Harrington said. “It was really great to hear that someone like me became vice president. He told me about a book of poems by Yeats that he would read aloud to practice.”
“He showed me how to mark his addresses to make them easier to say out loud, so I did the same thing today,” Harrington added, delivering his prepared speech.
“We all want the world to feel better,” he said. “We need the world to feel better. I’m just a normal kid and in a short time Joe Biden made me feel more confident about something that took me my whole life. Joe Biden cared. Imagine what he could do. for all of us.Children like me count on you to choose someone we can all look up to, someone who cares, someone who will make our country and the world feel better.We count on you to Joe Bid to choose. “
Harrington met Biden at a campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire in February. His father, Owen, told CNN that Biden was talking to Braydon about the sail line and then got him out.
“He put his focus on Brayden and made time for him, talking to him, explaining that it did not define him. He is stronger, that he is a good person,” Owen said. “It was really overwhelming for Brayden. He started to break a little bit.”
Biden has spoken openly about his craving for stuttering as a child and says he regularly talks to about 15 people who stutter.
—2020 #DemConvention 🇺🇸 (@DemConvention) 21 August 2020
