Sparkling others` lives

"Taare Zameen Par showcased the issue of child dyslexia but still many people are not aware of this disorder that diminishes major part of the brain memory," said Gurdeep Singh. He is running a registered charitable trust named Dyslexia Association of India to educate the masses about specific learning differences, particularly dyslexia.

What is dyslexia?
Most of the people in India consider dyslexia as a mental disease which is completely wrong. Dyslexia is a neurological condition that is characterised by difficulties that mainly affect the ability of a child to read, write and spell.
Categorised as a learning disability, it usually manifests as a problem in listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, or spelling. It is not an indicator of intelligence and many children who have dyslexia are of above average intelligence. But being limited by their ability to read fluently due to a difficulty in the area of language development and memory makes a dyslexic child learn differently.

Brain child
Gurdeep Singh, 46, was himself a dyslexic in childhood and this is how the Dyslexia Association of India was formed. "In India, people consider dyslexia as a disease which is because of lack of awareness. Recently, a child visited the organisation; he studies in one of the best schools of Delhi. He got above 95 per cent in maths and flunked in the rest of the subjects. He studied hard to get marks in all subjects but unfortunately didn't get through. People call him dumb but it's not that he is less intelligent. He suffers from a particular learning disability due to which he is not able to read and write words properly," Singh added.

Financial support
Every great deed needs some financial support to grow and in this case, Gurdeep Singh solely manages it. "I sold two of my cars and broke my fixed deposit to start this organisation. Initially, my wife was completely against it but after some time she understood me and supported me in this cause," Singh added. 

Obstacles on the way
Creating awareness and bringing out change is not as easy as it seems. "We organise workshops and awareness classes but we are not getting very positive results. People are not ready to accept this as a condition. Even, most of the schools in NCR are showing cold shoulder to us. Whenever we ask schools to allow us to conduct free workshop in schools they just say give us time to think about it. I don't know how much time they need but I will keep bugging them for this," he added.

A neurological condition
Most of the people in India consider dyslexia as a mental disease which is completely wrong. Dyslexia is a neurological condition that is characterised by difficulties that mainly affect the ability of a child to read, write and spell.

How we work
Having a social objective that firmly stands for helping children achieve, the Association strives to provide essential information to parents, teachers, students, professionals and individuals with learning disabilities.
"We endeavour to help families, schools and communities to understand dyslexia, identify the early warning symptoms and take responsibility for children who are displaying the differences. The association believes that an increased public and professional awareness and understanding of dyslexia can help the students and the cause," said Gurdeep Singh
"We also conduct free workshops in schools and in residential areas to make society aware how they can help a dyslexic person. Recently, we organises a camp in Noida Sector 29 where many residents took benefit from our practical workshop," Singh added.

--Madhuri Balodi