 FEBRUARY 27 • 2020 | 41

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Living 
Life 
Fully

Dylan Bressler refuses to let 
stuttering defi
 ne him.

RONELLE GRIER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Health

COURTESY DYLAN BRESSLER

D

emocratic presidential candidate 
and former U.S. Vice President Joe 
Biden makes no secret about his 
lifelong struggle with stuttering. In addi-
tion to sharing his personal experiences in 
public, most recently during a Feb. 4 CNN 
Town Hall broadcast, he communicates and 
meets individually with children who stut-
ter to share techniques and lend support. 
Dylan Bressler, 22, is painfully famil-
iar with the challenges of stuttering. He 
admires Biden for creating awareness about 
this often-misunderstood speech disorder.
 “I am glad someone of that stature, and 
a person who has to speak so often, is able 
to shed light on his struggles,
” said Bressler, 
a graduate student at Michigan State 
University. “It will probably help everyone 
who stutters through tough situations in 
which they are afraid to speak.
” 
Bressler, who plans to attend law school 
after earning his master’
s degree in account-
ing, says he began stuttering in kindergar-
ten or “as far back as I can remember.
” He 
received speech therapy but stopped during 
middle school because he felt embarrassed 
about being pulled out of class. 
“
A lot of kids didn’
t know what a speech 
impediment was, and I would get made fun 
of,
” he said. “Someone once asked if I was 
having a seizure. People can be so rude. A 

stutter is something that has diminished my 
confidence at times, turned around my day 
and made it so much worse.
”
A reading disability exacerbated his chal-
lenges further.
“I struggled in the classroom, was told 
I’
d never get into a good school or play 
college basketball, but I got in everywhere I 
applied,
” he said. “Being more comfortable 
with myself and everyone around me made 
me stutter less.
”
Bressler attended high school at Frankel 
Jewish Academy in West Bloomfield, where 
he benefited from the sm 
aller class sizes 
and individualized attention. Despite being 
5-feet-10-inches tall and wiry, he success-
fully pursued his passion for basketball at 
FJA, where he received several honors. He 
continued to excel at the sport in college, 
first at Adrian College and then at Keiser 
University in Florida, where he transferred 
sophomore year. 
While Bressler says he still struggles with 
stuttering at times, especially under stress, 
he refuses to let it overshadow his life. 
“When I got past feeling bad for myself, I 
decided it was not going to hold me back,
” 
he said. “If I stuttered 100 times today, 
maybe tomorrow I’
ll stutter 99.
“My stutter has gotten better no doubt,
” 
he said. “There were times it got worse, like 

Dylan Bressler’
s passion for bas-
ketball in high school and college 
helped create confidence that 
helped reduce his stutter, says his 
father, Jay Bressler.

