When Parker Mantell stepped to the podium to deliver Indiana University's commencement speech, he immediately confessed to his fellow graduates that he, as a person who stutters, may not be the obvious choice to deliver the address. But his message is one that needed to be heard.

Mantell, who graduated May 10 with a political science degree, urged his classmates to rise above any doubts they have about their abilities. He cited Beethoven's deafness, Ray Charles' blindness and Albert Einstein's dyslexia as examples of disabilities that failed to get in the way of their success.

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