In India, teen with dyslexia shines as an actor with National School of Drama

From The Times of India:

SURAT, India -- A 13-year-old dyslexic boy, who can't read or write in Hindi or recognise any of the alphabets of Devnagari, speaks fluent Hindi for a three-hour play - 'Ek Baat Ankahi'. Parth Desai is a student of Prayas - a Centre for Holistic Education in the city, and along with his friends and tutors will be performing on the stage of National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi on October 13.

Not many able artistes from the diamond city have managed to reach this far, but Parth and his team has done this, reminding everyone of the path-breaking film 'Taare Zameen Par'. It will also be the first time in the history of Surat theatre that a children's play conceptualised in the city will have the honour of being performed on the NSD stage.

So far, only Kapil Dev Shukla has managed to perform on the NSD stage in 2003 and 2004 during Bharatiya Raang Mahotsav. Now, it is the team of Prayas and Sparsh portraying the travails and trauma that a learning disabled child encounters in his life that will represent diamond city in Jashn-e-Bachpan at NSD.

"With about 90,000 children suffering from learning disability, it has become essential for us to knock at the doors of educators, reformists, parents and society at large in understanding a learning disabled child," said Balasaraswathy Nair, director of Prayas. "We decided to portray this on stage and formed a team with Sparsh and Disha, two other organisations working in the field," said Nair, who is also principal of Anand Niketan School in the city.

Mortaza Railwaywala, who has directed the play, said, "Dyslexia (reading handicap), dysgraphia (writing handicap), dyscalculia (problem in mathematics), dyspraxia (spatial handicap) are all complex problems and conditions in the pediatric society and have no simple solutions. But, if there is a will, there is a way."

Parth is a specially gifted child, who was taught his dialogues by repeated conversation of the same by his mother, teacher and co-actors. Now, he is doing this so efficiently that the audience does not even think that he suffers from learning disability.

Nair said, "The message we want to send across is - Tare hamari zameen par bhi hai. All we need is to identify and nourish them to shine and excel."