Former Vice President Joe Biden announced this week that he is running for President in 2020. Mr. Biden is a person who stutters, and regardless of political leanings, it's hard to ignore what he has accomplished. He has been in public office for more than 40 years, and has been very open about his stuttering. As a presidential nominee, he inspires people who stutter to pursue their dreams and goals, and never, ever give up.

Mr. Biden has been one of our supporters for several years now. In celebration and appreciation of his 2020 candidacy, let's take a look back at his 3 appearances at our annual galas.

2008

We presented Mr. Biden with our Freeing Voices, Changing Lives leadership award at our annual gala in 2008. He spoke about his history with stuttering in high school and college, shared how his mother once reprimanded a nun in his Catholic School for mocking his stuttering, and reminded us that no one overcomes this without support.

2014

Mr. Biden sent a video address for our 2014 annual gala. He congratulated honorees Jack Welch and Jes Staley, and explained how the experience of stuttering can lead people to discover strengths they never knew they had.

2016

In the last year of his Vice Presidency, Biden made a surprise visit to our 10th annual gala. He spoke from the heart about his personal experiences and acknowledged that stuttering is one of the only problems good people still think is okay to laugh at.

--The American Institute for Stuttering is a leading non-profit organization whose primary mission is to provide universally affordable, state-of-the-art speech therapy to people of all ages who stutter, guidance to their families, and much-needed clinical training to speech professionals wishing to gain expertise in stuttering. Offices are located in New York, NY and Atlanta, GA, and services are also available Online. Our mission extends to advancing public and scholarly understanding of this often misunderstood disorder