FEBRUARY 27 • 2020 | 41
continued on page 42
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.