Movies and television serials often portray a stammering person as a weak character. Samvaad Institute of Speech and Hearing, has launched a campaign to end this.
The institute has started an online petition on change.org to ensure that stammering, stuttering or other speech defects are not portrayed inappropriately in Indian cinema and television. It convened a press conference in Mysuru to request citizens to participate.
Radhika Poovayya, director of the institute, who has been in the field of speech and hearing for 30 years, said she has been closely associated with patients with speech impairments and has been an audience to their struggles. “I know the pain a stutterer goes through… their turmoil of not being able to communicate properly, something that others can do easily,” she said. She expressed a need to work towards clearing misconceptions associated with stammering and stuttering. “Stammering has no relation to any environmental factor and is not a sign of poor parenting or lack of self-confidence. Most importantly, it is not anyone’s fault,” she said.
She described stammering as a speech difficulty resulting from involuntary spasms that make the person repeat syllables or prevent him from speaking for a few seconds. Speech therapy can help control these.
With a view to putting an end to the negative portrayal of such people, Samvaad Institute has started the petition to draw the attention of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It seeks to ensure an accurate portrayal of disabilities in movies and television serials, she said.
