"What I learned about stammering was that, when as a young child you lose the confidence of anyone who wants to listen to you, you lose confidence in your voice and the right to speech. And a lot of the therapy was saying, 'You have a right to be heard.'"
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Hooper frames stammering less as a mechanical glitch than as a social eviction. The injury isn’t just in the mouth; it’s in the room. “Lose the confidence of anyone who wants to listen to you” spotlights the quiet cruelty of impatience: the moment adults start finishing your sentences, looking away, treating your words as a delay rather than a presence. In that dynamic, speech becomes conditional. You don’t simply struggle to talk; you’re trained to believe you shouldn’t.
The phrasing is tellingly political. “The right to speech” borrows the language of citizenship and civil liberties, turning a childhood impediment into a question of access and power. Hooper’s subtext is that fluency is often mistaken for legitimacy, and that legitimacy is policed early. The real therapy, then, isn’t only breath control or rhythm; it’s a restoration of status. “You have a right to be heard” sounds like a mantra because it functions like one: a counterspell against years of internalized interruption.
Context matters here: Hooper’s career is defined by shaping performances where voice carries history and authority, most famously in The King’s Speech. His insight aligns with a director’s instinct: what breaks a person isn’t just the struggle to speak, but the audience’s withdrawal. The line is a critique of a culture that celebrates “having a voice” while quietly rationing who gets listened to, and how patiently.
The phrasing is tellingly political. “The right to speech” borrows the language of citizenship and civil liberties, turning a childhood impediment into a question of access and power. Hooper’s subtext is that fluency is often mistaken for legitimacy, and that legitimacy is policed early. The real therapy, then, isn’t only breath control or rhythm; it’s a restoration of status. “You have a right to be heard” sounds like a mantra because it functions like one: a counterspell against years of internalized interruption.
Context matters here: Hooper’s career is defined by shaping performances where voice carries history and authority, most famously in The King’s Speech. His insight aligns with a director’s instinct: what breaks a person isn’t just the struggle to speak, but the audience’s withdrawal. The line is a critique of a culture that celebrates “having a voice” while quietly rationing who gets listened to, and how patiently.
Quote Details
| Topic | Confidence |
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