ShareThisThe idea of saying his own name has, on occasion, left Alan Reznik speechless.
"We're at a banquet, a party, and I am waiting to introduce myself. That is the absolute worst," said Reznik, a retired professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.
Reznik, 71, has stuttered throughout his life. The condition has brought him much frustration and grief, made all the more embarrassing due to the generally negative way the disorder is portrayed in popular culture.
But it's likely Christmas Day will herald a new level of understanding. That's when "The King's Speech" opens in six local theaters, and it is a story both inspirational and enlightening.
Colin Firth stars as Albert, the prince who would become England's King George VI after his older brother, David, abdicated the throne in 1936 to be with American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
"Bertie," as his family called him, was a lifelong stutterer who, at the start of the film, is absolutely stricken by the idea of delivering a live radio speech before thousands of people.
The crowd -- and moviegoers -- squirm in empathy as he tries, by sheer force of will, to force out words, any words. Silence fills the air.
"Is the nation ready for two minutes of radio silence?" a character asks at one point later in the film.
The king's unlikely relationship with Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue -- played by Geoffrey Rush -- is at the heart of the story. These were grim times for Europe, and if this were a sports movie, the preparation for an important address to the nation at the conclusion would be Bertie's home-run swing.
The king was a role model for many, not the least Malcolm Fraser, a self-made auto parts millionaire from Memphis, Tenn.
A lifelong stutterer, he created NAPA Auto Parts with his brother after returning home in 1927 with a degree in business from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1947, the company endowed the fledgling Stuttering Foundation with 10 percent of Fraser's annual income.
"He was looking for a cure, and when you look back on the '40s, people thought they could cure anything," said his daughter, Jane Fraser. "Remember, they had smashed the atom. Radiation was going to cure everything."
Each year at the company Christmas party, Fraser insisted on giving a speech to the employees, as well as handing out little gifts for milestones in service.
"We had this full dinner beforehand, and I couldn't eat a thing," recalled Fraser. "I was a wreck. I was just on pins and needles until the speeches were over."
"He tried to say 'M-m-malcolm F-f-fraser, but it was still a significant problem," said Jane Fraser, today the Stuttering Foundation president. "But it did not detract from his business, because he didn't let it."
The disorder affects roughly 3 million Americans, and about 1 percent of adults worldwide stutter. It isn't unusual to have more than one stutterer in the extended family.
Misconceptions on stuttering abound. Recent research by Dennis Drayna at the National Institutes of Health indicates the condition, long observed to run in families, has a genetic basis in the mutation of up to three genes affecting the metabolics of the brain.
The NIH researchers discovered that roughly 9 percent of people who stutter could experience mutations in one of the three marked genes.
But among the general public, many people figure it's just a quirk of psychology.
"There have been surveys asking the general public, and you'd see many things as a possible explanation: the baby was dropped, the baby was tickled, somebody hit them," said Scott Yaruss, a speech expert.
Yaruss is an associate professor at Pitt and co-director of the Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania. His practice includes one-on-one counseling, as well as education seminars.
"Then there is the most common misconception: psychologically, the person is nervous or anxious, and that's the prevailing belief among the lay public. It's very hard to change perceptions."
In "The King's Speech," George endures a maddening series of odd "treatments," from a bevy of beknighted physicians. Nothing helps, until he meets Logue.
Even then, it's a struggle. Developing his breathing and stomach muscles has an effect, as do creating mental "detours" that take the focus away from the fear of speaking.
"A lot of the work today does involve cognitive methods," Yaruss said. "But the problem is, with stuttering, it's a highly variable disorder. A person may be in one situation one day and be fine and maybe that same situation the next, and they're not.
"It is very difficult to accept something that is very true only some of the time."
There are two key messages to take from the spotlight "The King's Speech" brings to stuttering, Yaruss said.
"First, to parents. Many children go through periods in stuttering. The conventional wisdom is, don't do anything and it'll just go away -- they have this told to them by their friends and, sometimes, even their pediatricians. If parents are concerned, they should get an evaluation.
"Treatment for children as young as 2, 3, 4 and 5 is important. (Addressing the problem) after 7 or 8, the condition may well be chronic. But many people are afraid to draw attention to it.
"Also, we want to let adults who stutter know that the treatments now are much different, much better than what they might have encountered in the past. The last 20 years have brought tremendous new therapies."
For more information: The Stuttering Foundation's website www.stutteringhelp.org.
(E-mail reporter Maria Sciullo at msciullo(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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