No filter: How speech impediments became stepping stone to success

The entire episode has moved the needle in the right direction when it comes to destigmatising speech impediments. Actress Sanchana Natarajan, who is known for her rolesin films like NOTA, Game Over and the webseries As I’m suffering from Kadhal, spoke about coming to terms with stuttering and being bullied as a kid. Just like Hrithik said nothing should get in the way of you dreaming big and Sanchana echoes the same.

Once she bags the role in a film, Sanchana is performing in front of at least a few hundred people.“I have stuttered for as long as I can remember and I don’t see it as an impediment. While growing up, kids used to make fun of me but I never said anything to them. It did hurt my feelings and self-image. However, my parents have been my pillars of support and always made me feel comfortable. My father even told me that my stuttering is what set me apart — he meant that I took time to think before I speak. In retrospect, that was the nicest thing he could have said,” she tells.

For as long as I have known Sanchana, she has been an eloquent woman with informed opinions who is a livewire around her friends. “I am that way when I’m comfortable around people. When the director, co-stars and the entire crew don’t treat me any differently I can perform pages of dialogues! When I do start to stutter, I don’t need unwanted advice or people making faces; instead giving me time to de-stress would help. Luckily, I have worked with great teams,” she shares.

Sanchana’s inbox has been overflowing with messages from kids who have been bullied or parents of children with a speech impediment.

Cary Edwards, the former SS Music VJ and voice artist, is known for his mastery of the English language and his eloquence. A few people apart from close friends know that he is dyslexic and while growing up, he had a lisp and a stutter that’s usually exacerbated by children being cruel and insensitive teachers snapping at him. For all his followers, he is known as the motormouth with a vast knowledge of music. So it comes as a huge surprise that he dealt with a learning disorder and speech impediments.

He shares, “I want all the kids out there to know that your weaknesses when you are young usually become your strengths growing up. People used to tell me that I was wasting my potential because I wasn’t focusing hard enough. It didn’t help that my mother was a teacher in the same school so I would get called up to read out loud very often. My parents got me tutors and it had little or no effect. I can only imagine how helpless they must have felt. I had a teacher who used to make me practice speaking with marbles in my mouth after school hours and that helped me with my lisp.”

While writing this article, I reached out to friends in school whom I’d made fun of for similar speech impediments because I didn’t know any better. I apologised to them and told myself that I will teach my children to be better and less cruel.

Cary also shared an incident that happened after he switched to a boarding school in Class 7. “On my first day in the school, Karthik sir asked me to read to the class. I was cringing on the inside because this was a fresh start and I didn’t want to be the kid who couldn’t read. He didn’t ridicule or made me feel bad. When I struggled, he politely asked me to stay back after class and had a conversation with me. He was the first person who knew about learning difficulties and asked me the right questions and told me about dyslexia. I started with remedial classes from that day and it helped me. I became a happier and confident child. There is no shame in having a learning difficulty so I hope families and teachers do better for their children.”

Today, when we host shows together he reads the script thrice and has it memorised and doesn’t need cue cards. In a divisive and rather hostile world, let’s retire the tag ‘normal’. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, so let’s be kind to one another.