The Moment Every Adult Stutterer Dreads
The vice president spoke out. Others who stutter—including me—should do the same.
Being interviewed on CNBC during the 2008 financial crisis should have been a highlight of my career. I had been invited to the studio in Manhattan to explain why the New York State Insurance Department, of which I was then superintendent, was trying to regulate risky derivatives. I had prepared my thoughts and practiced my key points in advance. I was sure I was ready. But when the interview was over, I felt no afterglow of triumph. Instead, I found myself sitting in my car, stunned.
The unthinkable had just happened: I’d stuttered on live TV.
One minute, I was comfortably talking about credit-default swaps—and then suddenly the
