Bollywood or a Torture ??

The Bollywood is always one step ahead in making fun of ones handicap and most of the time
stammering was used for cheep humor and just to make people laugh without any reason.
If we see in some bollywood movies that were released recently, the main character was
playing the role of a stammerer and stammering was shown in a normal way and not for cheep
laughs. Few movies like "Ajab prem ki gazab kahani", "Kaminey","Jootha hi sahi" etc have shown stammering in a positive or rather normal way.

After watching these movies I thought that bollywood has now grown up and is taking each
and every aspect whether is a Handicap or a particular community etc very seriously and with atmost care.

But the recent release of Rohit Sheety, "Golmaal 3", was once again a shock to me and many
stammerers across India. It has made fun of stammer to such an extent that even a mature guy
who understands this handicap would start laughing and making fun if he/she comes across a stammerer in real life. They dont even know how it feels to be on the other side. Ask a stammerer who has to go through all this everyday. Accepting cheep laughs is way to far and not acceptable to any person who has a handicap.

But TISA filed a case in the court against them and they got the answer from TISA. You can see the result of this brave step by TISA on the below given link :

Link

Yesterday we had an interview with a reporter from the "Times of India". She came to our work
place and we shared all our experiences with her and also raised this point. Our article
will be now published in the Sunday times in Mumbai and I am very eager to read what she
finally writes about this. Lets wait and see. If you want to read about this meeting with the reporter in detail then you can click the link of TISA blog given below :-

TISA

My Journey So Far !!

Stammering is a hard to explain and even harder for me because I am the one who stammers. Stammering is one of the biggest medical mysteries that is haunting the medical Science even today. There is no so-called cure for stammer and that is the bitter truth which is hard to accept. Its like living in a fantasy world where we, the PWS(People Who Stammer) use some encrypted language to communicate with other fellow PWS so that the non-stammerers around us dont understand what we are talking about. They(non stammerers) laugh at us when we stammer and we in turnlaugh at them because they dont know that we(stammerers) are members of a "secret league of extra ordinary people" who are very smart and sharp. Its amazing to spend some time in this fantasy world of stammerers. But finally we have to come out of this world of imaginations and face the real world which is the most difficult part of being a stammerer.

It all started when I was about 3 or 4 or Even I dont remember when? There were many other things around to concentrate on. I still remember when I was in 1st standard, my teachers always use to tell my parents that "your child doesn't even speaks a single word in the class. Even when he is has to go to bathroom or toilet he will make some stupid and strange gestures rather than asking for it. At that time my teachers and parents were also unaware of the thing that was developing within me. Many years passed by and I was still the same guy who doesn't wants to talk to anyone and even if the teachers asked some questions I would prefer to keep my mouth shut rather than stammering and getting embarrassed, although I was knowing the answer.

The schools days were over now and I entered into a college for my B.Tech or B.E. in computers.We stammerers are always good in knowledge and technical skills but when it comes to speaking or communications skills we always feel inferior to others. Same was the case with me in the college. Although I took active part in the seminars or Communication skills classes. But when it came to vivas or oral tests, it was like hell. I would rather bunk my class than attending the class and facing those embarrassing situations. Never had the courage to go and talk to the girl whom I liked the most. But still the college life was good. Because you don’t have to wake up early and go for attending classes and all that. You are the king.

Live Life King Size.

After college came the professional life. Mine was a Campus placement and my professional life started when I went to Mysore for 6 months of Technical Training. It is always a problem to go to a new place where every face is new and bright. You go to a new place with lot of expectations and all. This again can be a problem for a person who stammers because you have to start it all over again. Introducing yourself in every session or to every person you meet. We use to have Communication classes there, where each and everyone of us has to speak. You don’t have any option.But it was not that hard for me. In almost each and every session of communication classes I discussed about my stammer. So after talking about my stammer and letting everyone know that I stammer, It feels really good. It felt like all the people in that room were all stammerers and I am attending a Self Help Group meeting. So that thought of getting embarrassed or humiliated was gone. After introducing stammering as a part of my life and actually telling them about the obstacles and difficulties that I face every day, everyone was staring at me like I was a superman or from some other planet. From that day more and more people(including girls) started interacting with me and sent me friendship mails and all that. At that time I thought, why are they so desperate to be my friend. Was it my honesty...?? Was it my bravery....?? or just that I am different from them...?? Still I dont know the exact reason. But it doesn't really matters or does it..?

Soon my friend circle began to expand. It was altogether a new beginning for me. I didn't knew that stammering can make such a huge difference(in a positive sense). Then after completing my training successfully, I got posted to Pune. Now I am in Pune, exploring a new world, with new faces around and of course some familiar ones too. But one thing is still the same and that is my stammering. So there is some sort of connection between me and my stammering. You can never get satisfied in your life if you are a stammer. And remember "satisfaction leads to Death". Life will always be a journey where you can keep on learning new things everyday and with stammering in it , it becomes more spicy and interesting.

This was my way of looking at stammering. There are many other ways too that can lead to suffering, Pain and make your life Hell. So why not accept you stammer, make life a bit spicy & interesting and live with it.

That was my journey so far. Lets wait and see, what life has planned for me or rather what I have planned for life in the near future.

Is Sss...s...Stammering a Disease..??

No, its not.

There are more than 45 million people in the world today who stammer and approximately 10 million live in India . Stammering is predominantly a 'male' condition (80% of all stammerers are male) and it usually affects the first-born male child. A significant majority of stammerers (65%) have a family history of the disorder; usually the father who stammers or speaks at a rapid rate. Nearly always, stammering starts before the child is 5 years of age. If left untreated, it peaks in severity around the age of 10 to 18 years and then begins to stabilize or fade away as the stammerer grows older.

A stammerer knows precisely what he wants to say but cannot, for the moment, say it because of an involuntary repetition, prolongation or cessation of the speech sound. Research suggests that the disorder might be caused due to a 'neurological mistiming' during the act of speech which leaves the stammerer confused about when exactly to say the word he wants to say. Speaking is not merely the movement of the tongue but involves a fine coordination of both mental and physical processes. Like all other physical actions, the act of speech is the result of neuro-muscular coordination which involves the transmitting of electro-chemical messages from the brain to the appropriate muscle groups. For everyone of us (non-stammerers and stammerers alike), this neuro-muscular system sometimes trips and fails especially during moments of inadequate emotional control. Haven't we all found the quality of our speech delivery changing with our feelings as we experience thrill, anger, fear, joy or other such strong emotions? For the stammerer, this 'tripping' occurs much more frequently than it does for normal speakers. Whenever he faces what he perceives as a 'feared' situation, the stammerer adopts a mind-set which triggers off spasms of speech-blocks. Such fears can also center around certain speech sounds or even certain people.

Scientists have yet to pin-point the exact cause of stammering. In ancient times, the condition was attributed to every possible source including sometimes the devil himself. One can only guess the varieties of tortures undergone by stammerers in their quest for speech fluency in those days. Even now, stammering has remained a confusing speech impediment for the sufferer as well as for those who have attempted to cure it through medicines.

One stammerer poignantly asks :
I can see
I can hear
I can sprightly walk.
Why do all my problems surface When I try to talk?

In their desperate search for fluency, many stammerers in India subject themselves to a myriad of so-called treatments ranging from swallowing vile concoctions to allowing themselves to be pierced with needles and cut with knives. Actually, such treatments hold no relevance to the problem of stammering and only cause greater frustration in the long run.

Yoga and meditation might really hold the key to solving the problem of stammering. With the greater sense of emotional and intellectual balance that these disciplines promote, the stammerer might find them of tremendous help in his attempts to develop
better control over his speech.

Dr. Edward Conture, Professor of Speech Pathology at Syracuse University, New York, talks about what causes stammering :

"Things that cause stammering may be, and probably are, quite different from the things that keep it going, aggravate or worsen it. For example, if you mishandle a knife, you may cut your finger. The knife causes the cut and initial pain. Salt rubbed into the cut makes the pain continue or even worsen it but the salt does not cause the cut". Dr. Conture says, scientists "...still haven't found the 'knife' that causes stammering. However, we do know something about the 'salt' that keeps it going, makes it worse or aggravates it".

These are aspects which can be changed through self-therapy to help the person overcome his speaking difficulty.

Many of the Non-stammerers might experience a feeling of embarrassment when we converse with stammerers; some of us look away while others go ahead to complete their sentences for them. In talking with a stammerer, the following hints might be of help:

1. Listen to what is said, not how it is said.

2. Be patient and don't hurry the person talking.

3. Try to maintain natural eye contact.

4. Simplistic advice ("breathe properly", "don't worry", "don't be afraid", etc.) though well- meant is not always helpful.

5. Stammerers have difficulty when talking but don't assume they are stupid or confused about what they are saying.

6. Many stammerers have difficulty when they speak on the telephone. Please do not hang up if the caller is taking longer than usual or if he is silent for a while.
   Stammerers usually try and hide their speech problem from their listeners. This attempt at camouflage is counter-productive because it only acts as psychological 'fuel' for even more speech-blocks. If the stammerer is open about his speech difficulty, he experiences lesser stress and is able to speak with greater control.

In the final analysis, stammering can be overcome if the sufferer seeks scientific, professional guidance and is ready to work towards achieving speech fluency through regular practice of therapeutic techniques. It certainly cannot disappear by ingesting some magic potent!

This article is taken from :-

link

Stammer Sent Bruce Willis to Bullies

Bruce Willis was bullied as a child because he stuttered. The 'Live Free or Die Hard' actor developed a stutter at the age of eight and was teased as a result.

Bruce said: "I could barely talk sometimes. I still had friends but I was bullied a lot. The bullying meant I also learned how to fight. Everyone knew not to f**k with me because they knew they'd get their ass kicked."

Bruce discovered joining a drama club allowed him to express himself and by the time he turned 16, his stutter had disappeared when he performed. He said: "I was in a play and when I got onstage I stopped stuttering - I couldn't believe it. I realised that the reason the stutter stopped was because I was acting."

His speech impediment continued throughout high school. Bruce eventually enrolled in a New Jersey drama college, and his professors helped to cure his stutter completely.

An important observation...!!

Today I was interacting with some of the guests in a party. One of them asked me about the college from where I did my graduation.And believe me, i was not able to speak out the word "Rayat", thatz my college. I was doing "Rrrrrrrrrrrrr". So this means that I am having difficulty in speaking out the letter "R". I don't think so. I already spoke the word "R", so the difficulty was not with this word.

The main problem was the sound "A". Bcoz i already said "R"... but the rest of the word was not coming out i.e. "ayat".This means the problem is with the letter "a" and not "r".

So in order to overcome this problem , I am practicing by saying the rest of the word i.e. "aaaayat" again & again. And when i am comfortable with that word, just add "r" before that .So this becomes "Raaaayat".
There you go..........

Why we dont stutter while singing..??

I posted this question on ISAD online conference .There are many experts who will write an answer to your question and clear your doubts.

So here are some of the replies I got from the Experts :-

1)Charley Adams said :-

We have lots of ideas about why people who stutter can sing without stuttering.

First, think about speech rate; if you listen to words in a song carefully, you will realize that they are produced much more slowly than they would be produced in speech. We know that dramatically slowing down your speech rate is a powerful fluency-inducing condition, so this is a partial explanation.

Second,many people who stutter can read aloud with greater fluency than they can speak spontaneously; singing is much the same, as the words are chosen for you.

Third, music has a more regular rythym than speech, which also tends to enhance fluency.

Finally, and perhaps most compelling, is that speech and language are processed predominantly in the left hemisphere of the brain for most people, while music tends to be processed in the right hemisphere. So in an important sense, you are using a different part of your brain when you sing, vs. when you speak.

2)Greg Snyder said :-

Singing uses different neural circuitry, which (apparently) bypasses the stuttered neural fault.

3)Ed Feuer said :-

Singing as in singing songs is communication neutral. Add a message in real-world communication and you have what these days they call a game changer. Van Riper had people who stutter go out into stores, singing their questions such as: "Do you have bananas?" etc. Very quickly blocks began to appear. The old adverse signal-to-noise ratio kicks in.
— Ed Feuer, edfeuer@mts.net

4) Klaas Bakker said :-

Singing differs in many ways from natural speech, and so any physical difference of singing could be part of the explanation of why you don't stutter (as much). When someone sings, or speaks in a sing songy manner, you may bypass some of the brain centers you typically use for speaking (I don't think people sing from the right brain entirely though). When you sing, usually much of the expression is in how you produce the vowels of your speech (they have a certain pitch, intensity and duration, while their stress is related to a rhythimical pattern). All of this could explain why there is less stuttering. Finally, often singing involves speech already formulated by someone else, so it comes from memory. However, if you speak in a sing songy manner, like you described, obviously you are still in control of that. These would be some of my first thoughts looking for an explanation. But any explanation would still need more research to definitely tell.

Hrithik - A True Hero........!!!

Whenever someone used to say that Hrithik had a stammer, I used to think that may be he must have stuttered till the age of 5 or 6 and then with the help of some speech therapy, got over that...but this is not the case. What I learned in the program was completely different. Here is a man who is a Bollywood superstar, super busy and still works for one hour on his speech daily. When the host asked him, for how long did he had this problem, he said since age 6 to till date, which was really surprising to everybody. But he has accepted for what he is and has not stopped at that but has worked hard to achieve whatever he wanted to be in his life. He said he had no option, either he wanted to become an actor or die trying becoming one.

When the host asks him to share one of the embarrassing moments due to his stammer..he shares only one, but then continues with really amazing fact that he always wanted to become an actor; Whenever someone asked him what he wanted to become, he used to say a-a-ac-tor! So how can someone who can't say the word 'actor' did become an actor! The turning point in his life came when once while walking on beach, he saw a group of youngsters doing somersaults and he too wanted to learn it. He tried and tried and finally managed to do it after a lot of practice and struggle,and this thought struck him : Why can't he do the same with his speech!
Other than that he had all the experiences which any person who stammers has gone through..like not being able to order food in a restaurant on his first date. Once he was not confident enough to say the word 'Dubai' on stage while receiving the award for the movie-'Kaho na payar hai' and had to practice it for some time and as he said, finally took the "leap". Just compare his motivation level to any of us and ask yourself: are we ready to work so hard..Are we ready to let go of our lame excuses like shortage of time, family reasons etc.

I know I may be sounding too harsh or strict or preacher-like but thats what these are. How can one reach office or an examination center or to a cinema theatre on time even during rains but cancel their plans to go to self help group meetings to practice their speech goals due to the same? Just be true to yourself and ask what do you want out of life and go ahead and live your life the way you want. All the best!

Hrithik said that he started it right from the scratch like A,B,C,D..........so on. Then he used to practice all the sounds of every letter or alphabet. for eg : all the sounds of the letter A.(aaaaaaa,aaeeeeee,aiiiiiiii etc). After that he used to combine the letters and practice them. Like, if we stammer on the words P or B or T etc. then practice it like paaaaaaa,peeeeeee,poooooo,puuuuuu for P and similarly for rest of them also.

If someone missed that show, you can watch it on youtube. Here are the links :-

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=p7Bz_S1uBEA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=rL51RXmZe6o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=oxkMYBiUZ2k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=ZgWyz52s8Hw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=syz3Heqf1OE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=DkoAxHVleNg&feature=related

This post is written by "Jai Prakash Sunda".He is also a recovering stammerer and Co-ordinator of Pune SHG.

Joe Biden and Demosthenes: A tale of two stammerers

I was inspired by a stunning parallel between Senator Biden’s remarkable life story and that of the ancient Greek orator Demosthenes.
Both were stammerers in their youth. Both were taunted for it with cutting nicknames–”dash” for Biden, since he left his words hanging with a dash; batalus for Demosthenes, which meant both asshole and stammerer.
But both defined themselves by overcoming this impediment, and thus turning their greatest weakness–speaking–into their greatest strength–oratory. Demosthenes went on to become the single greatest orator not only in Greece but in all of history. Statesmen from Cicero to Disraeli and Churchill looked to him for lessons in how to move a political audience with speech. Joe Biden, too, became an effective–and, if anything, a garrulous–senator and is now the vice president of US.
As always, it is how they overcame that is the story. Joe Biden’s story is all over the news. But you may not know Demosthenes’ story. Here is the brief version, as Plutarch tells it:
Once, after Demosthenes was once again laughed out of the forum of Athens for his slobbering, panting attempts at speech, he was walking in dejection around the port. An actor followed him and caught up. He asked Demosthenes to recite passages from Euripides and Sophocles. Demosthenes recited them. As soon as he stopped, the actor would deliver the same passage, but with full force and feeling, with gesture and emotion.
Demosthenes was so inspired that he built himself a sort of cave underground where he hid for months at a time, just practicing his speech. He shaved one half of his head, then the other, so that he would be too ashamed to come out. With laser-like focus, he stayed in that dungeon and worked on his tongue, his vocal cords, his gestures, his cadence, his logic.
Eventually he came out of his cave and set his hurdles higher. He recited speeches while running up hills. He went to the shore and orated against and over the breaking waves. When even that became easy, he put pebbles under his tongue and then enunciated over the roaring surf. Here he is, as the painter Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ imagined him:


In time, he became the greatest orator, and then the greatest statesman, of his country and time, Athens in the fourth century BCE. It would be Demosthenes who roused the Athenians against the menace of Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great.
Were the early failures, setbacks and shortcomings of Joe Biden and Demosthenes impostors, in Kipling’s sense? Stammering, for Biden or Demosthenes, was not a liberating event, as failure was for Steve Jobs, J.K. Rowling, or Hannibal’s nemesis, the great Scipio. Their stammer was more like a gauntlet that life threw before their soul. Success in life can be about picking such gauntlets up and then going deep, way deep, to find the strength.

Overcoming your fears........!!!

Usually most of the speech therapists only focus on some techniques like Bouncing,Prolongation etc. and that also in clinic environment. They make the stammerers to practice in their own comfort zones.But the real challange is to extend our comfort zone and face the new challanges which were just like a night mare for a stammerer.

So today Dr. Sachin took us to a Hospital today and we were made to come out of our comfort zone and face our night mares. At first ,we were made to talk to some patients or their relatives who were sitting in the waiting room. I was really scared at that moment. we were suppose to talk to them and ask them about their purpose of coming here and to also tell them that we are working on our speech.we talked to 6 to 7 people out of them 4 were ladies. I always hesitated to talk to any lady, so I was very much nervous at that time too. But after talking to them I felt that there is nothing like a night mare or what ever you call it. They were really understanding our problem and were very cooperative also.

The next task was to go and talk to the Supritendent of that hospital. When we went into the office ,I saw that the Supritendent is also a Lady.We talked to her and told her about ourselves and what ever techniques we learnt here. She was very happy and also said that the techniques that you pws are using must be used by every person bcoz it sounds so Cool and stylish. Then the 3rd task was to go to different windows at the hospital and just ask them something using Bouncing technique. And I think this was the best part of the day . We were enjoying bouncing and asking questions . So overall it was a gud experience .

Thanks to Dr. Sachin for making us to do these things and helping us in overcoming our fears.

What is Acceptance.....???

Since when I was a child ,I never realized that this stammering will cause me so much trouble in my future. Like when I went for any vivas ,I used to prepare for it very hard and my frnds just didnt bother about vivas.They use to say that we can just say what ever we want .Its just a kindaa interview.So just go there and say something and you'll get good marks.

At that time I realized that I was different from them.I can't just keep on saying anything ,bcoz it was difficult for me even to speak my name.So when the teacher used to ask me question during VIVAS, I was always knowing the answer to that question but I was not able to move my lips. So the teacher thought that Manpreet is not knowing the answer and She used to pass that question to the next person. I was just like a dumb statue there.Because I was afraid that if I gave the answer and I stammer, then all my frnds sitting beside me will make fun of me due to my stammer and I will feel bad about it. I thought that it was better to keep my mouth shut. Here I was doing the wrong thing.
I was hiding my stammer from all of them .And bcoz of this mentality, I always avoided to speak and stop attending even my family parties.

So Acceptance means that we have to Accept our stammer and in others words feel gud about our stammer and have a positive attitude towards it. The outcome of this is that our speech becomes effortless and quite smooth and There is no struggle in our mind and no two thoughts that shall I speak or not.

My Experience......!!!

As u knw that there is no 100% cure for ur stammer. So we can not say that he/she is an ex-stammerer. Although we can overcome this problem atleast 98% or 99% in some cases also.
Stammering is 80% psychological and 20 % physical. So the 80% psycological cure is for sure and the remaining 20 % depends upon ur speech muscles and how we can control them occasionally.
This 20% physical cure can come by practicing the techniques like Bouncing,Prolongation,Easy onset,Cancellation or whatever u ve learnt. But just believe in what u do. The most important factor in this physical condition is "Slow rate of speech". If u try to control you speech and speak slowly ,then out of this 20%, u have cured 15%.

The 80% psychological cure can come by "Accepting" that u stammer.Remember "Acceptance" is the only way with which u can cure ur 80% stammer.It means that we need not to hide our stutter.Just go out and talk about our stutter to anybody openly.Stammering or stuttering is not a crime . So what are we hiding it from. It is something given to us by GOD, so why to hide it.All these points again point towards Acceptance. So that is the key.

Bcoz when u Accept that you stammer and are not ashamed of it, the internal struggle that always keeps on emerging in our mind is eliminated and now u have no fear to speak out something even in the difficult situations.Believe me ...I have tried this thing and with in 1 month I am observing something gud in ma speech and that is fluency.

So the choice is urs........ all of you can do this and just try to put all these techniques in ur day to day life. Even if u stutter at the initial stage , you shouldn,t be ashamed of it. Just try to control ur emotions and walk one step ahead of ur emotions.

A perfect example of controlling ur Emotions is :----
It is often observed in stammerers that if today they were able to speak fluently with some person in a difficult situation, they will feel very gud and will be happy on that particular day.And if, on the next day they stammer a lot even in an easy situation ,they will feel very bad and think that why GOD gave this problem to me and there whole day goes very depressing and unhappy.Now here ur Emotions are controlling you. But you also know that this stammer is not ur fault.It occurs at odd times when no one is expecting it. So to control ur stammer, u need to control ur Emotions first.And just act normally when any of these situations occurs and try to tell urself "that atleast u spoke and completed ur sentence". Bcoz a non-stammerer can never be so courageous and dedicated as far as our speech is concerned.

So just cheer up and say it to urself that "if so many of the stammerers are able to gain flueny , why can't I.....???"

You can and you always will..........just try this........