‘King’s Speech’ gives a voice for many stutterers

Romina Julian
Contributor
It’s the 83rd Academy Awards, and 73-year-old David Seidler is walking toward the stage to accept the Oscar for best original screenplay for his film, The King’s Speech. In his brief but wonderful speech, he dedicated his award to all the stutterers in the world.
“We have a voice. We have been heard,” he said. Seidler, who is a stutterer, never thought he would receive this award, or that the film would bring positive attention to a condition that has been either ignored or exaggerated by the media: stuttering.

I have a stutter. As a child, I would refuse to participate in class and shy away from doing presentations. When I’m hanging out with friends, I would always be the friend who just listens and rarely speaks. At home, I would even get scared of talking to anyone on the phone other than my parents because of my stutter. I have gone through six speech therapists attempting to improve my speaking skills, but their methods didn’t seem to help.
Nothing worked – that is, until I met Steven McAteer. McAteer was a therapist with some novel techniques. Part of his work involved making me call local businesses and asking them questions such as “What time do you close your store?” and “Where are you located?” He also encouraged me to sing and to volunteer as an office helper during recess.
I felt the activities were silly and thought he was just trying to humiliate me, but as the lessons went on, I started to feel comfortable speaking in public, and I would trust him when telling him all of my speech-related problems.
For two years, Steven became an important person in my life. He gave me courage to speak and to accept myself for who I am.
Stuttering is a condition never taken seriously in the media. In Hollywood, it is often used for comic effect, like in Michael Palin’s portrayal of a reclusive, nervous and socially awkward stutterer in A Fish Called Wanda. Children are taught from a young age that stuttering is something to laugh at, thanks in part to characters like Porky Pig and his famous farewell, “Th-th-th-th-th-that’s all, folks.”
The King’s Speech offers a realistic portrayal of a stutterer and the mentor-student relationship between the king and his therapist, Lionel Logue. Through his character, Colin Firth shows all the frustrations a stutterer faces. The opening scene, where he constantly stammers in front of an audience during a public event, shows the nervousness and stress a stutterer would have when speaking in public.
In another scene, the king is seen being ridiculed for his speech by his brother David, a.k.a. King Edward, leaving him weak and relapsing back to his stutter. The treatment he received from his brother shows the bullying many stutterers would face and the intimidation one would get from a non-stutterer. While the film realistically shows the trials and tribulations a stutterer faces in life, it also shows the trust and friendship the king has with Logue.
Thomas Klassen, who teaches political science at York University and also has a stutter, says it is important in speech therapy to have a good match between the therapist and the student; in the film, he notes, the introduction of Logue made a big difference in showing how two people worked together to improve the king’s speaking skills. Klassen also commented on Logue’s role as a father figure to the king – he was kinder to, and more understanding of, the king than his biological father. With Logue, the king found someone with whom he could be open and who would listen to what he had to say.
Throughout the film, Logue gave the king several exercises that are still relevant today, as I have witnessed through my years of speech therapy. Exercises such as shouting vowel sounds out loud, saying tongue twisters and pronouncing simple sounds are very common in speech therapy.
His breathing and jaw exercises may not be used today, but many speech therapists employ similar exercises to expand the diaphragm and work on the jaw muscles, both of which are important in speech. Logue even recommends the king sing as part of their exercises.
Singing is also effective, as it loosens the vocal chords; since singing requires using the right side of the brain, it has no effect on the left side of the brain, where the stuttering is connected. When the king was preparing for a speech, it shows his written speech, where there are lines placed on top of words and between sentences. These also work, as it helps the speaker know where to pause and highlightw any tricky words for the speaker.
However, there are some exercises that looked very unorthodox. One scene showed Logue persuading the king to shout out curse words to release tension. While my therapist never taught me this exercise, nor have I done this in front of my therapist, I can assure you from experience that swearing really does ease the tension (but I advise you not to use this condition as an excuse for your swearing).
Earlier in the film, a physician recommended the king smoke to calm his nerves and improve his breathing. Like Logue, I agree smoking does not help at all. And as for the physician making the king speak with marbles in his mouth, unless you are Henry Higgins, this method is very ineffective.
Klassen says what the king lacks the most is a sense of honesty about his condition. At the start of each of his courses, Klassen says he would point out his condition to all his students. King George, on the other hand, was never open with his stutter, and was never honest about it with anyone other than Logue. He says the best approach for people who stutter is to learn to accept it, adding that as stutterers get older, they stutter less because they learn to accept their condition and take control of their fluency skills.
He notes, too, that there are people who have trouble accepting those who have a stutter: blinded by this one tic, they miss everything else about the person. While stuttering is a pretty common condition, there is no cure for stuttering, nor is it considered a psychological problem. Klassen says stuttering is more of a physical problem, because they have trouble producing fluent sounds from their body.
Overall, the film is earning recognition not only for its critical acclaim, but for the positive message it brings to a wide audience. It challenges the public’s perception of this condition and gives an inspiring message among many stutterers on finding their voice and to accept themselves for who they are – even if they happen to be the King of England.