Ask VK Singh whether he has been discriminated against because of his stammer and he laughs bitterly. “The correct question would be - how many times has it happened,” he says, before he proceeds to narrate a particularly harrowing experience.
“Once, when I was travelling to Patna, I stood in a long queue to buy a railway ticket. When my turn to buy the ticket arrived, I found myself fumbling over the “P” in Patna… The ticket vendor got annoyed and so did the people in the queue behind me. And I was pushed out of the queue,” says Singh, who travelled all the way from Maihar in Madhya Pradesh to Mumbai to attend the meet.
“I stood in the queue once again, and this time I was so nervous that I couldn't speak at all. And finally, I wrote the 'Patna' on a piece of paper and presented it at the ticket counter,” he says.
“It may sound funny to a normal person, but that day I seriously contemplated suicide,” he recalls.
While many children hate going to school, Birju Unudkut dreaded giving attendance during his school days.
“It would take me a couple of minutes to say “Yes, Sir.” And by that time, the entire class would erupt in peals of laughter,” says the 24-year-old from Junagadh, Gujarat, who now works with a private company in Surat.
“As an adult, I have the emotional maturity to accept digs cracked at me. But as a child, I remember turning violent several times when I was bullied or ridiculed,” he says.
“Even today, Bollywood films ridiculing people who stammer make me angry. We are stereotyped as slow-thinking people and made fun of,” he points.
Hetal Vir, at the age of 30, is yet to be married. And this is a constant source of worry for the parents of this talented customer support executive from Surat, who stammers heavily.
“I have been rejected many times. But what people don't realise is that my stammering will improve once I establish a comfort level with another person,” he says.
Akash Acharya, an assistant professor from the Centre for Social Studies, Surat, who has overcome his own problem of words, agrees.
“I was a University topper and applied to a leading MNC. But I was told that I would have been the perfect candidate, if not for my apparent lack of good communication skills,” he says.
“But things worked out. I am successful now. And what's more… I love talking,” he says with a smile.
