Jab we met in Dehli..

Tanveer is the youngest trustee on the board of British Stammering Association. Yes, he had to work hard to get there- (stammering was not enough!)- as he told me in a recent meeting in Delhi. We also discussed various possibilities of networking and synergy.. It was an informal kind of TISA consultations: we met Jyoti, Sikander and spoke to Faiz on phone. We also met Ms Giri (Guild of Service), who very kindly offered us the use of their Conference hall.

My overall impression is- there are enough people doing significant things, scattered all over; Need of the hour is to get in touch with each other and get more focused and organized.

Mumbai meeting postponed..

TISA's 2nd Mumbai Meeting is postponed for the next week.New
date,timing and venue will be posted as soon as it is decided.

Tisa meeting in Delhi

An informal meeting is taking place in Delhi on 29th (Monday)
somewhere in south delhi.. Tanveer (an NRI TISA member), Sikander
Randev, sachin and Jyoti will be meeting most likely.. how, when and
where is still in the process of planning..
If you are in Delhi and wish to pop in.. do so by all means. Feel free
to contact following for more details:
09412058272 (sachin from Dehradun)
09810654407 (Sikander Randev from Delhi)
Friends and family members too are welcome!
(sachin)

Stammering workshop at samagra

Video report (11 minutes) of this workshop is available at Youtube at following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nViQi0CCKK4

Thou shall protest!

A yahoo video ad was noticed by one of our TISA team members on Sep 22 (8.23 am). It portrayed stammering in a negative way. To use his words- it was an ad "in which stammering has been used to create fun in bad taste."
The TISA members and other IPWS promptly went into action, lodged complaint with Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) and with Yahoo.
All the while, we had an internal debate too: are we over-reacting? Have we not shared jokes about Tamil accent, Sardar ji, fat-thin people etc etc.? But then, stammering is a health condition, which causes considerable suffering and disability. But are these other kind of jokes OK? Should we file a PIL? Should we just focus on our internal work focusing on self help movement?
We think humor, still has not matured enough. Still not very intelligent or creative- if it has to depend on people's accent or girth. But to begin with, we started with this one issue and succeeded too! Because in less than 48 hours Yahoo removed the ad. You may check it out by following this link:
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3527101/9774251
So, the moral of the story is: if you dont like something, say so. Make a protest. This is how you shape your world. Your reality. You are the shaper of your world.
Congratulations to all of you PWS, who reacted promptly and spontaneously..
Keep it up!

Yahoo ad in poor taste.

One of us has seen a Yahoo ad in poor taste. Hetal has supplied the address of The Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI). We are planning to lodge a formal complaint. We need more information on this ad. If any one has seen it, please give us more details, so that we can provide all the relevant information to ASCI. If you wish, you may see the information required by following this link:
http://www.ascionline.org/regulation/howtocomplain.htm

Mumbai 28th Sept.

The Indian Stammering Association (TISA) is conducting its second
meeting on 28 Sep. Kindly contact on 09967594962 (Ajit) for
more details. Great opportunity to practice speech technique, share jokes, discuss issues, share solutions and plan 22nd October. "Think Globally, act locally- and NOW"
Ajit (above) is doing a wonderful job of coordinating and mobilizing the Mumbai Chapter os TISA.. Please support him.

Chennai charges ahead..

Here is a brief report from Chennai, prepared by untiring Mr Manimaran.

The Chennai meet on 21.09.08 was attended by myself,Vishal, Karunyamurthy &
Sabarish. We spent about an hour. We talked about conducting Chennai chapter
TISA meeting on last week of Dec'2008.We have also decided the following.

1. To send a letter to Speech & Hearing Dept of Sri Ramachandra Medical
College in Chennai to inform our activities and request to send a SLP regularly
to our Chennai meet.
2. To join in advance English speaking or Management development course so as
to speak in non-comfort zone and get rid of fear. Vishal is thinking of joining
in management Development Course.

Dear friends, Congratulations. Neither stop, nor look back. This is the way. Challenge yourself.

Mumbai Chapter meets

Here is a brief report submitted by Ajit. Great!

TISA's Mumbai Chapter conducted its first meeting on 21 Sep 2008 at
11:30a.m..Four people were present at the meeting,
1)Ajit
2)Dinesh
3)Venu
4)Vikram

Minutes of the meeting are given below:
1)Members introduced themselves as new member was present at the
meeting.
2)Information about the TISA's formation was given to new
member.Minutes of the last meeting which was held on 13 April 2008
was also circulated among the members.
3)Members exchanged the techniques they have learned in their speech
therapy and those were practiced in the meeting.
4)I'national Stammering Awareness Day (ISAD) happens on 22 Oct every
year.On that occasion events will be organized on national level to
promote the awareness about the stammering.
6)Next meeting will take place on 28 Oct where each member will be
given a topic for a presentation before the members.

TISA congratulates all the participants and look forwards to further developments..

Mumbai Chapter of TISA organises a meet

Ajit from Mumbai is organizing a two hour Self Help Meet in Mumbai this SUNDAY. Other core group members, Viren and Venu have joined in. Plesae participate and spread the word.

(and Ajit, dont forget to send us a report and couple of pictures. Even if you send a phone video, it will be great. And plan something for 22nd Oct.).

Venue: ICICI Bank, near Imperial Cinema, Grant Road (E), Mumbai
Date: 21st Sept. Sunday, Time 11.30 am
Contact: 09967594962 (Ajit)

Can a stutterer become Vice-president?

Tom started a very interesting debate. Can the stutterers be given an important (verbal kind) job only if they hide, or promise to suppress their stutter? Are they free to stutter in their job? Or do they avoid it, driven by their own sensitivity? This debate started with Jo Biden's coming out about his stutter. Most such people claim to have stuttered only as child ..
This reminds me what a child in calipers told me once:
Other kids teasing, I can cope. But one incident deeply surprised me. Once I sat down in the front row during our annual function. A teacher came and quietly asked me to move to the back rows...
I think malady is deeper than what it appears to be.. Not just functionality is at stake here..It is also about appearance, form, aesthetics (!)..
Check out this debate at
http://thestutteringbrain.blogspot.com/2008/08/can-stutterer-become-vice-president.html

Stammering Workshop: Insights

The workshop (13-14 Sept 08) has left us with these insights, lessons and thoughts, derived through the two sub group activities, discussions, feedback and the Question answer sessions.

1. PWS do not come forward for therapy, self help etc because of conservative negative social attitudes.

2. Some young PWS worry about the possibility of their offspring inheriting this condition (stammering) and its consequences. (World will be different place in 20 years-if we act together today: This was our approach and response to such fears.)

3. ‘Teachers’ appear to be the most ignorant segment of society when it comes to stammering. Few know how to respond appropriately when a child stammers.

4. Girls who stammer suffer ‘double jeopardy’. First they are women in a patriarchal society. Second, they stammer. They eventually lapse in an impenetrable silence. Higher education and finding friends can be nearly impossible.

5. Family support can make a lot of difference. But sometime, it is the father who is a covert stutterer, and therefore, very uncomfortable about any discussion on stammering. This makes recovery difficult for the child in the family.

6. People who do not stammer, sometime (wrongly) attribute other failings to stammering. If a child steals money at home, parents might wonder if there is any connection. Similarly, some stammerers think that stammering makes one very intelligent, since Newton, Darwin and Churchill stammered! (we did not have time to talk about poor research methodology and law of probability !!.. but we tried to dispel such myths.)

7. As the chief Guest, Mr M K Goel mentioned, the Government of India, does not officially recognize stammering as a disability. (He heads a national association of people with disability.) PWS themselves are divided on this. Some do not want that kind of ‘recognition’, since they think they can achieve whatever they want through hard work. But this does not solve the problem of many younger PWS who do not have necessary skills and resources to help themselves. And the society too fails to do that extra bit for such children. Our consensus was: let the government (strapped for resources as ever) not give any concession to PWS, but society and media should become more educated and responsive, as they are about other visible and fixed disabilities.

Six parents, a dozen adolescents, some children and couple of teachers participated in this two day workshop. Most had some connection with stammering. Two Canadian movies were screened, with Hindi commentary: ‘Speaking of Courage’ and ‘Unspeakable’. Participatory methods like Sub-group discussion, Q&A sessions, role plays (on teasing in schools) etc were used. Practical skills, like breath work, bouncing, prolongation, continuous phonation, Valsalva maneuver, Instant relaxation techniques etc were taught. Important role of Self help groups was discussed. The event was covered by Dainik Jagran, a Hindi daily.

Online conference!!

F-----F..Friends
Get ready for the online conference (starts 1st October), hosted by Judith Kuster of Minnesota! She has been doing it for last so many years and has perfected it to a fine art (and science).. Check out the home page for more about it. Above is the logo for this year's conference...

http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/stutter.html

And here is the brochure:
http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/isad08brochure.pdf

Podcasting in Indian languages

F..Friends
We are in touch with Stuttertalk.com!
They wish to promote podcasts in non-English languages too. Podcasting serves three purposes: Helps us to get in touch with our feelings, deeper thoughts, as we talk. Second, it educates audience as to stammering and related issues (no one knows these better than we do- we are the subject experts for once!). Thirdly, it sprinkles a good measure of stuttering across the digital globe! Everyone benefits.
Here is the link to their episode 58, featuring Samagra's third podcast in Hindi.
http://stuttertalk.com/2008/09/07/special-guest-cassie-speech-screenings-for-graduate-students-who-stutter-episode-58.aspx
I am hoping that podcasts in Gujrati and Tamil (and other Indian languages) will soon join the tower of Babel!
s..s..sachin

Superstar of the Baltimore Conference!

Check out this very touching story of Senator Joe Biden, a candidate for Vice President of the United States. He talks very frankly about his childhood stuttering and experiences..

http://www.nsastutter.org/newdetails/index.php?id=212

A heart warming tale..

Two day workshop

Samagra Speech Support Group is holding a two day workshop on “Stammering” on 13th & 14th September 2008. We will be sharing latest research on causation and techniques for self therapy. Anyone interested- families, children, teachers etc. are welcome. Hindi and English, both will be used as medium of instruction as per the need.

Venue: Samagra, Near Summerfield School, Herbertpur, Dehradun
Time: 9.30 am to 5 pm on 13th and 14th September 2008
More Info: 9412058272 (sachin), 9917078033 (Vijay), 9368127778(Anil),9410187425 (Pawan)

Rights and Responsibilities..

Here is something interesting: DRAFT BILL OF RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR PEOPLE WHO STUTTER...
http://www.stuttering.ws/bill_of_rights.htm