Success Stories

I am and I am a proud dyslexic! Proud, not sure if I was before I joined Ananya...The symptoms of dyslexia were clear in me. My parents sensed and learnt about it when I was in my 1st standard. They were afraid to put me in a special school as they always felt it was only for those who are physically challenged. Like we would expect a parent's heart to feel, so it was, not being able to gulp the truth and hardly took a while to start believing that their daughter is absolutely normal and perfect! They dropped the idea of admitting me to a dyslexia special training school.Just as any other kid in the neighborhood, I started going to a normal school. For almost 8 years I had to go through the pressure and embarrassment in school, I could never handle. I had no friends as everybody felt I was too different from them to be their friend. It didn't end here.

I would be punished almost every other day for something or the other; from not doing my home work to incomplete project work, leaving me with bad remarks unbearable. Soon, my parents saw the pain and struggle I was running through and realized that their little angel is someone off the normal. She needed special care.Finally, they decided to put me in MDA. I was in my 9th standard when I joined Ananya (Madras Dyslexia Association). My reading was of the 3rd standard level. I was very slow in reading and writing. I used to forget everything taught in school. I could hardly concentrate and could never memorize anything. The kind of guidance and care I got there and the level of personal attention I got from the teachers there, I possibly could have never got in an otherwise normal school.I loved going to Ananya.

I always made sure that I missed not a single day of school. While I hated going to an otherwise normal school for all obvious reasons, this was less a school and more a home to me. We got so much of love, care and advice from our teachers that school was actually fun. A place where we used to study and play games at the same time.We were taught various techniques to learn and understand lessons. From flow charts to mind maps, everything was taught to us that could help us understand better. These were techniques which were not taught in normal schools, obviously because the IQ level of students there wouldn't need these special techniques to understand things. I finished my 10th board exam completing 2 years with Ananya and was sent back to normal schooling, believing I was ready to face the normal world.I was then put in a usual school to pursue my education. With the usual 30 to 35 students in a class room with a pace of teaching and learning that fast, was a little tough to cope with initially. However, executing the techniques I had learnt in Ananya, made my 11th and 12th fly smooth just like my 9th and 10th did.

The words of encouragement from my parents were always an add-on. I still remember them saying "Just another couple of years of education and you'll find what you are and what you wish to do in life". I did not know what I was good at and what's that I could see myself as, in future. They were the pillars always standing behind, making sure I never fell.I now knew what I wanted to do in life and what to take up as my carrier. It was fashion designing. I always wanted to be a fashion designer but it was only since a while that this became a realization. All thanks to MDA, I could now read faster and understand way better. MDA helped me discover the talent in me and my parents gave complete support in polishing my inner skill that was designing. I was now in pace with all my class mates, sometimes even ahead, but I was no more inferior.

My parents could never imagine me working towards my passion like any other growing child would. It was a miracle for them that their daughter could now read, write and understand like any other child.With their help and support, I completed my course in fashion designing and it soon became my profession. It was like I was introduced to myself!I have finished my B.Sc. in fashion designing and I am happily married now, put up in the city of Amritsar in Punjab. By His grace, I am a Fashion Designer running my own designer studio. Today, whatever I am, it's only because one day I had closed my eyes and surrendered myself to Ananya and today I see my life happy and independent, as a normal wife, a normal daughter-in-law and a normal professional.I owe my life to MDA and my parents for this day. There is no price for the rebirth I have been given by MDA. "I love you MDA" for making me a "proud dyslexic"!