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Wednesday, 10 April 2013

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(Im)perfect to be a king!

James Middleton delivered an unexpected stand-out moment in his sister's WestminsterAbbey wedding. Not only because it was the wedding of the millennium, but this famous brother suffers from a speech disability.

Middleton, 23, suffers from dyslexia and chose to memorize his two-minute-40-second- long Bible quote, Romans 12 extract rather than read it from the Bible and risk jumbling the words. People with dyslexia, which literally means "trouble with words", have difficulties with reading, language and words. When Kate Middleton married Prince William, more than two billion people watched their wedding. Dyslexics, not less than several millions around the world also triumphed to hear the only speech delivered in that famous event.

A scene from King’s Speech

I wonder how many famous 'differently able' people were made by the Great Britain. I was happy for King George VI (Queen Elizabeth's father) who was able to overcome his severe stuttering condition at the right time for the throne. This story is brilliantly depicted in 'King's Speech' which earned several awards for its creators and the cast.

Much has been made of the film's use of harsh language. In context, it is handled appropriately - Lionel (the speech therapist) observes that Prince Albert (before he became the king of England) does not stutter when he swears, and uses this insight to help advance his therapy.

In this case swearing has been used as a mode of therapy and, I would rather say as a remedy. I have seen people who stop shuttering when they sing or speak aloud. Anyway 'King's Speech' was rated R (restricted) which means that it could only be seen by an 18+ audience.

In this regard, Colin Firth, who played the role of Prince Albert broke the ice claiming, "These are tools, these forbidden words have become momentary tools to get a guy to break out of extreme repression...It doesn't teach your kids to sprinkle your language with these words or direct them against people."

Speech-related disabilities are one of the more obvious disabilities, especially as they relate to speech-based communication - something commonly used in both work and social life. At one extreme are people who cannot speak at all, and must communicate by sign language or by talking computer. Yet even where the disability does not significantly impair the ability to communicate in an understandable way, people with speech disabilities are often subject to oppression and ridicule in public, and discrimination in employment. The disability may be an "act of God", but the oppression is definitely based in so called 'physically perfect' society.

I have serious issues on how media and other channels of entertainment depict a differently able person. Back in a decade or so, we were all glued our eyes on a Sinhala comedy series which had a seriously shuttering man. We all laughed out of our heads to a person's disability without a single thought of many people who suffer from the exact difficulty. It is pathetic to realize that we have become dumb enough to laugh merely on a disability of a person, rather than a moral failure.

None of the masterpieces that have been offered to the world by Leonardo Da Vinci shows up an impairment which has been long suffered by the artist. The contribution of Bill Gates, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso was flawless to the mankind. All the names mentioned about have suffered from some form of a speech disability and still there are a lot among us who are intellectually gifted yet differently able.

The positive outcomes entirely rely on right form of therapy, love and care. In the mean time, success stories such as 'King's Speech' will make a huge difference.

 

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