Chandigarh Workshop 1st day

In India,around 1% of the total population suffer from stammering/stuttering.In the past few years,there has been a lot of awareness in the Westregarding this neurological disorder and the stigma attached to it resulting in various organizations like The National Stammering Association(in the US) and the British Stammering Association(in the UK) which are dedicated to this cause which provide help to people suffering from this disorder.But the scenario in India is quite different.Here,awareness on this topic is negligible as compared to the west and the therapies used in the country are very outdated and not in tune with developments all around the globe.All this has led to the formation of an independent non profit association called The Indian Stammering Association(TISA) which aims to remove to provide assistance to all the stammeres throughout the country by conducting various workshops around the country.One such workshop is being conducted in Chandigarh from 24^th June to 26^th June.

The 3 day Chandigarh Workshop on stammering commenced today i.e. the 24 June at the YMCA Sec-11 Chandigarh.There were 13 participants in all including the facilitator Mr Jai Prakash Sunda who is also a trustee of the Association.The meeting kicked off at 9am with the basic knowledge about stammering(what is it,how is caused,how it affects a person’s life,etc).Then the physical aspect of stammering was discussed by teaching various speech techniques like bouncing,prolongation,voluntary stammering,etc to all the participants.This was followed by practice of all these techniques with one another.After this the emotional aspect was addressed(which is just as important as the physical aspect) by an interactive session on ACCEPTANCE.It was made clear that accepting one’s stutter as is the first step towards a better life both professionally as well as emotionally.This is because it removes the fear of stammering which is more harmful than the actual stammer itself.This was followed by an impromptu presentation by each participant.This was aimed at removing the fear of public speaking which most stammerers suffer from.All the speeches were video recorded and later shown to the participants so as to make them aware of what they actually do when they stutter and hence work on it accordingly.On the whole the workshop was very interactive in nature interspersed with a large variety of activities.The 1^st day ended on a high note with the message”Haklao,magar pyar se”(Stammer,but with love)

If anyone has some queries regarding this workshop he can contact the facilitator Mr Jai Prakash(9915686678) or Dhruva Kathuria(8968069221).You can also visit the TISA website www.stammer.in

or www.t-tisa.blogspot.com