"We have a voice. We have been heard."
David Seidler, while accepting his Oscar for The King's Speech
For more than five months, The Stuttering Foundation has been raising awareness of stuttering through supportive interviews about the acclaimed movie The King’s Speech. From its opening in November through awards season in Hollywood this winter to its golden coronation at the Oscars at the end of February, we have trumpeted the movie’s message of hope to thousands of media outlets around the world, including CNN, Time, PEOPLE, the Los Angeles Times, Agence France Presse and The Washington Post.
Equally as exciting is the announcement that our 60-second Public Service Announcement is included on The King’s Speech DVD, which was released on April 19. We hope everyone in the stuttering community will purchase their own copy to view and treasure this tremendously heroic story for years to come.
Because of the enormously positive impact The King’s Speech has had on our mission, The Stuttering Foundation honored the movie, its cast and crew at a gala in New York City in April.
At the gala, Foundation president Jane Fraser honored the movie for raising awareness of stuttering “beyond any level we could ever imagine.” She also thanked the actors for their “accurate portrayals of the anguish faced by people who stutter” and for “opening up honest dialogue about stuttering and its treatment.” Finally, she thanked the director and screenwriter “for giving us a hero and a movie we can look to for inspiration, much as my father looked to King George VI more than six decades ago.”
She also announced Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth has been named honorary chairman of National Stuttering Awareness Week, May 9-15, 2011. “Colin and the entire cast and crew of The King’s Speech have done such an amazing job raising awareness for the stuttering community,” Fraser said. “Our focus during this special week and the months and years to come will be to convert that awareness into action.”
-From the Summer 2011 Newsletter