The King's Speech

ParkRunner

Just saw the film tonight and without wanting to give too much away I thought it was an excellent film which shows the huge emotion, struggle and complexity that surrounds having a stammer. The film made me both laugh and cry and am already looking forward to reading the book that it is based on. It is quite a story!

Big chopper

I saw the film the Kings Speech over the weekend.
really is a great film, i'd recommend going to see it.

As a person who stammers myself, i must say what a good job they done with this film, in particular Colin Firth who is being tipped to get an Oscar for it.
The way they portray the emotions a stammerer can go through as he/she trys to speak; the anger, frustration, shame, guilt, the feeling of being hopeless.
They really done an excellent job in making this film.
I feel it will really give people an insight into what people who stammer go through.

as far as i can remember, its one of the few times that a stammering person is the lead role in a film, and not for comic value.

Michael O Shea

Yes I would agree, it is the first film I have ever seen that shows stammering for what it is on so many levels including the huge internal emotional charge for people who challenged by it and the emotional charge surrounding it family friends etc.

Speak soon,
Michael.
www.michaeloshea.ie

LizT

Just saw the film, was absolutely brilliant. I'd throughly recommend it!

Quentinkrisp

Saw the film on saturday jusy gone, absolutely amazing! Geoffrey Rush is an absolutely brilliant actor:)

jmn89

I saw it this evening! It was amazing, if a little bizarre... I felt weirdly exposed to the bunch I saw it with!

It's weird that the emotions associated with stammering are so homogenous and universal to the stammering community

overthebridge

I went to see it last week and it was brilliant. It really expressed the sense of dread and panic that comes with many speaking situations.
It will be referred to by many in years to come.

Quentinkrisp

excellent film, plus i came away with the following facts:

:mad:King George V was an overbearing insensitive prat

:mad:King Edward VII was an obnoxious, bullying, vile excuse for a human being

:)King George VI was actually kind of a nice, decent enough guy.As was his wife, the Queen Mother

:)Lionel Logue was a very capable and charismatic man

:eek:The British Monarchy was actually quite tenuous and on the verge of collapse

LizT

Quentinkrisp wrote: »

excellent film, plus i came away with the following facts:

:mad:King George V was an overbearing insensitive prat

:mad:King Edward VII was an obnoxious, bullying, vile excuse for a human being

:)King George VI was actually kind of a nice, decent enough guy.As was his wife, the Queen Mother

:)Lionel Logue was a very capable and charismatic man

:eek:The British Monarchy was actually quite tenuous and on the verge of collapse

I agree to some extent, but you have to remember at the time that the research on stuttering was limited and the public perception of stuttering was probably quiet different. King George V probably thought that his reaction was the right way to deal with it. It was ignorance rather that malice, at least that's what I thought about it....

Paul4As

I was probably one of a few who was disappointed with "The King's Speech"!
I enjoyed the history lesson about the Royal Family back pre the Second World War...but the stammering aspect...I was probably expecting more! Perhaps there could have been more dialogue about the emotional side to stammering...though to a non-stammerers that may not have been that important! Suppose the emotional side is shown through Colin Firth's expressions.
Maybe I'm too critical because I have a stammer myself!
Good that it has promoted the issue of stammering though!

Mont

I found it just ok, nothing great tbh but at least it highlights stammering to people. Normally when someone stammers on-screen, they just get bullied or laughed at. I suffer from a stammer myself btw.

pog it

I loved this film. Especially the very last scene... don't want to give anything away!

But it is a great film about overcoming personal challenges and the reward for the effort and the courage.

Hope it helps educate people about the problem. Lord knows, there is nothing else out there doing it.

P.S. Anyone else think Geoffrey Archer should have got an Oscar for his role? He made the film for me.

Stephen P

pog it wrote: »

I loved this film. Especially the very last scene... don't want to give anything away!

But it is a great film about overcoming personal challenges and the reward for the effort and the courage.

Hope it helps educate people about the problem. Lord knows, there is nothing else out there doing it.

P.S. Anyone else think Geoffrey Archer should have got an Oscar for his role? He made the film for me.

There was lots and lots of awareness going on when the film was released. Radio and newspaper interviews from people who stammer. The ISA were very proactive.

pog it

Stephen P wrote: »

There was lots and lots of awareness going on when the film was released. Radio and newspaper interviews from people who stammer. The ISA were very proactive.

That's why I said there was nothing else doing anything substantial for the promotion of awareness and educating people in general about speech problems outside of The King's Speech. The King's Speech was the cause, not the effect.

As regards the ISA I don't personally rate them at all. They could be getting off their backsides a lot more and pushing it harder than they are. They are and have been doing the minimum for years.

Stephen P

pog it wrote: »

That's why I said there was nothing else doing anything substantial for the promotion of awareness and educating people in general about speech problems outside of The King's Speech. The King's Speech was the cause, not the effect.

As regards the ISA I don't personally rate them at all. They could be getting off their backsides a lot more and pushing it harder than they are. They are and have been doing the minimum for years.

The majority if not all of the radio/newspaper and TV interviews at the start of the year were organised by the ISA. They do excellent work with children (Young ISA, ISAYiT drama group and parents network). They do as much as they can with the little funding they get. What about the self help groups they have for adults? If more people supported them and became members they would be able to do so much more but unfortunately that's not the case.
You obviously don't know much about them or you wouldn't have made such an unsubstantiated comment.
Even before The Kings Speech the ISA have been doing TV/radio and newspaper interviews. If you want to blame someone for not enough awareness blame the media, the ISA are always trying to get interviews but without success.

I think it's very unfair to say they should be pushing it harder, they do tremendous work and get very little credit for it.

pog it

No offence Stephen but I'd be surprised if you didn't counter something I said. Ever since one of my first posts on this forum where I described how I overcame my speech problem and howI achieved that, I have been met with skepticism and negativity from you. In fact, so much so I decided not to come back as I didn't want to expose myself to such negativity should it set doubts about my own recovery and start the ball rolling. Now I am SIX years recovered so negativity from you wouldn't bother me now.

Anyway, felt that needed to be said.

Regards the ISA it is not an unsubstantiated comment. I have posted before a little on this, describing my phone call to them, telling them my past experiences, and how I'd love to volunteer and meet with suffererers and/or help with the annual conference they have. I was told they would call me back, no phone call came. So I rang again, this time getting answering machine, decided I'd ring back and still ans machine; left message saying hi XXXX here again call me at xxxxx.

Nothing.

They have no media presence worth talking about. Years and years of their struggling to get interviews you say? Well that says a lot. They aren't up to the role. For the role they need more media/PR savvy people with a bit of drive and passion about the issue.

Stephen P

We're all entitled to our opinions. I'm speaking from experience as you are from what you said. You should have kept contacting the office.
Keep an eye out on the Events thread for details on the ISA conference this month, the AGM will be held before it, your support at it would be welcome.

I work voluntarily with the ISA so naturally I'll defend the work they do. Progress is slow and they're getting there but with funds drying up its more difficult.

I'm not going to comment on previous posts I've made but I stand by my comments, negative or otherwise as they're opinions of mine.

This thread is going off topic so I think it's best we agree to disagree in this instance but please don't be put off contributing to this forum, your support is appreciated whether I agree or not

Stephen P

pog it wrote: »

Years and years of their struggling to get interviews you say?

No, I didn't say years and years.

Michael O Shea

As a member of the ISA and a member of a hard working committee the comments posted by (pog it) are so far out of touch it is unreal. Since 2007 the awareness of stammering in this country has gone from being almost non existant to where it is today.

The ISA membership, the Irish McGuire Programme membership, and many others who give their time on a volentery basis need to be given a lot of credit for this national awareness. For years no one ever appeared on radio or tv as frequently to give the stammerers side of the daily challenge of stammering, both organisations should take great credit for giving people the confidence and support to speak about their experiances of stammering also for setting up support group structures around the country which the state has failed to do for decades. The ISA is run on a shoe string, what is achieved from member contributions, funding, grants, how far it needs to be streached has to be seen to be belived.

The ISA Conference Day came on stream in April 2010, The National Stammering Awareness Day came on stream in October 2007, "Lets Talk About Stammering" workshops came on stream in March 2009, the Irish McGuire Programme came on stream in 1996 all working for the common good of the stammering community in Ireland. They all need our support to survive to support the stammering community, your twenty euro membership is used in constructive ways and is needed now more then ever to keep things going.

The past few years has seen all organisations who work within the stammering community come together to raise the profile of satmmering awareness in this country, the ground work for interviews, newspaper, radio, and tv was done ever before the release of the "Kings Speech" the spread was country wide by all organisations, people who are challenged by stammering talking about stammering, informing and educating the general public, it was a great success, I would personally like to thank all who took part, all who took time off from work, travelled to interviews, welcomed reporters into their homes to tell people of their personal experiances you are a credit to us all.

When we do things in a united way for the common good it will always work, people who have a common challenge helping and supporting each other this will always work also.

Speak soon,
Michael.

pog it

I was discussing the ISA in isolation. It is its own entity after all. It's disingenuous of you to say you, Maguire Speech program, etc. are making great waves, etc. The Maguire Speech program is a separate entity and can be judged on its own merit and its main purpose is different to the ISA's after all. What you're saying is like saying Amy Hubermann, Joesph O'Connor and John Banville are heightening awareness of Ireland's rich literary culture.

I am not in the organisation despite efforts to help and what I am saying is that the ISA needs someone like John O'Shea. You really need someone with real fire and passion in their belly. It is a cause, with real suffering people behind it, not a quango.

Sure, the bit the ISA does is better than nothing, but ye can do better.

Michael O Shea

(Dear pog it) Thank you for your comments they have been noted and are respected. You are right of course, we can all do better, with the help and support from all organisations who work with and care for the stammering community in Ireland we will do our best to do better, this may not satisfy everybody, such is life.

Speak soon,
Michael.

stutelle

Hi Pog it,

Are you having a bit of a change of heart, here is what you said a year ago about the ISA ( posted 6 - 4 -2010)
'Hi Michael,

Yep I will be there, I rang the ISA office last week and spoke with a lovely man and I told him that if you needed a spare pair of hands or wanted any help whatsoever to give me a call- I left my number with him anyway. I'm sure ye have everything under control but my offer is just if there is anything ye thought ye could do with some help with!

Great to see the work ye are doing now regarding setting up Young Stammerers Association and about the video ye are going to make for sending out to schools.

Really heartening to see this happening, well done to all of you who work in the organisation'

what has caused you to change your mind?
The organisation is only as strong as its members. Are you a member?

stutelle

pog it wrote: »

I am not in the organisation despite efforts to help and what I am saying is that the ISA needs someone like John O'Shea. You really need someone with real fire and passion in their belly. It is a cause, with real suffering people behind it, not a quango.

Sure, the bit the ISA does is better than nothing, but ye can do better.

Pog it, you obviously have lots of fire and passion in your belly. I am sure the ISA would consider any sound proposals you have for media or PR campaigns, as a voluntary organisation all help is gratefully accepted.

Since you obviously have lots of ideas and thoughts, perhaps drop them a mail with your ideas scoped out with ideas of how the campaigns would be implemented, include costings if you could, that would be really helpful. Have you any experience of media or PR campaigns?

You could also join the ISA and that way you would have a say in how the organisation is run.

You could offer to speak at the next awareness day, drop the ISA a mail with a proposal for your presentation and I am sure it will be considered

You could come along to NSAD and help set up the room or tidy up afterwards, very few people want to hang around at the end and tidy up

You could fundraise for the ISA, do a charity walk/run

just a few practical ideas of practical things you could do for the ISA and consequently the stammering community in Ireland

what are you waiting for, the gilt edged invitation?

by the way, I checked Quangowatch and the ISA is not on their list

pog it

stutelle wrote: »

Hi Pog it,

Are you having a bit of a change of heart, here is what you said a year ago about the ISA ( posted 6 - 4 -2010)
'Hi Michael,

Yep I will be there, I rang the ISA office last week and spoke with a lovely man and I told him that if you needed a spare pair of hands or wanted any help whatsoever to give me a call- I left my number with him anyway. I'm sure ye have everything under control but my offer is just if there is anything ye thought ye could do with some help with!

Great to see the work ye are doing now regarding setting up Young Stammerers Association and about the video ye are going to make for sending out to schools.

Really heartening to see this happening, well done to all of you who work in the organisation'

what has caused you to change your mind?
The organisation is only as strong as its members. Are you a member?

Like I said I was optimistic before I didn't get a call back from them. I wasn't being met halfway and I was just trying to volunteer so there wasn't much else I could do after that. It just seemed like they would have called me if they needed me. Yes I previously wrote words of praise as yes, doing something is always better than nothing and I am someone who really believes in supporting people, or organisations as it applies, as I'm someone who backs/helps people who are trying to achieve something.

I just told honestly of my experiences with them. Maybe it will help make things more efficient in the future.

Re. quango. Ok that was too strong a word to use as it is not receiving funds anything like the quangoes enjoy. However the ISA does receive state funding ... (and yes I can appreciate they need more and that they are probably trying to stretch funds as far as possible).

I am doing my own thing to help sufferers and will be doing more in the future. I just learned that it won't be through the ISA for me.

stutelle

Hi Pog it,
I am glad to hear that you will be working to help other people who stammer and a bit sad that you don't think you can do this through the ISA but as Michael said not everyone, for whatever reason, will not be satisfied with the ISA.

And getting back to Stephen's point that this thread has gone off topic the following is the link to the ISA media page which has links to some of the media interviews that ISA members were involved in http://www.stammeringireland.ie/media.php

The King's Speech generated a lot of media interest but I think ISA members did a great job in highlighting the impact of stammering in their lives. Representatives from the McGuire Programme also put themselves out there to help increase awareness.

Perhaps instead of knocking other people if we all took positive steps to improving awareness of stammering in Ireland then things would be better for the young people who stammer that are growing up now.

red_red_wine

The King's Speech is probably the most inspirational film I've ever seen.

As a film, it dealt with all of the emotional issues attached to stammering very well and as a stammerer watching it, it was very realistic. It increased awareness about the condition and I felt that it gave the non-stammerer a huge insight into the day-to-day problems that we face. Whereas before I had the impression that they underestimated the significance of the condition, thinking of it as purely a physical problem ('so what, you have problems saying words'), but the film highlighted the emotional anguish it causes, the frustration, the effect it has on your self-confidence.

Personally, it was hugely helpful that it was this school year that the film was released. I had spent most of the year stressing about Leaving Cert orals and I had had many disastrous practice orals in which I was unable to say a word. Many of my language classes in school this year have been entirely oral; meaning I spent classes feeling absolutely stupid and worthless, being unable to voice my answer to a single question the teachers would pose. It was quite a difficult year in that respect and this film was excellent to watch when I was feeling down as it encouraged me to keep working on my techniques and to struggle onwards. (The orals are long over now and I was ultimately delighted with them. Indeed, it proved that much of the battle with a speech impediment is one of confidence; now that they're over and were successful, my speech as a whole has improved enormously, in fact, I have never been as fluent. It's also awakened a beast in terms of speaking foreign languages, I've grown to love it.)

The film was also an excellent way of 'coming out.' I'd consider myself a covert stammerer;I've become quite adept at disguising how much I trouble with communicating. Very few people know that I stammer, only the people I've told outright. The film provided opportunity to inform people in school about my stammer, without it a big deal. With all of the Oscars that the film won, it was often the topic of conversation in school, which allowed me to say something like 'I have a similar problem with speaking.' It meant that I didn't have to openly declare that I'm a stammerer, which I find quite awkward, but it did suggest to those who know me less well than my best friends that I sometimes have difficulty with speech.

The film was also the impetus behind most of the stammering related articles this year. Whereas before it was fairly rare that you would have an entire article discussing speech impediments, they were fairly common this year, which of course, was a direct result of the film's impact. I found the amount of high-profile journalists etc. who publicly discussed their struggle with stammering both surprising and inspiring. For example, Fintan O' Toole wrote an excellent article in The Irish Times (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0115/1224287558172.html ) about his experiences as a stammerer. Whatever you think about O' Toole's political beliefs, you can't deny that he's quite an eloquent speaker. Learning that he once stammered so badly that he had prayed for God to strike him dumb was incredibly encouraging. I have printed that article out to read again whenever I'm struggling with my speech.

The film has been the cause of some controversy regarding its historical accuracy. Personally, I don't care about any of that, or at least it was far more important to me that it was an accurate depiction of what it's like to stammer. On that count, it was excellent.

pog it

stutelle wrote: »

Hi Pog it,


Perhaps instead of knocking other people if we all took positive steps to improving awareness of stammering in Ireland then things would be better for the young people who stammer that are growing up now.

Who's knocking anyone? I simply gave some facts about my experience, gave praise where I saw it was merited, and said more could be done. They are a state funded organisation after all.
Overall I hope my comments will help the ISA.

pog it

Thank you so much red red wine for your piece on your experiences and for the link to the Fintan O'Toole article. Hadn't known Fintan wrote about this or even that he ever had a speech problem! Just posted it to my facebook page. Everything helps heighten awareness.

Thanks again. Really uplifting and heartening to read about your experiences and your positivity.

tadcan

Channel 4 has a doc called 'the real kings speech'. It has interviews with Logues' patients and archive footage of his real progress. Its available free watch via their streaming service.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-real-kings-speech/4od