Niveditha Warrier shows dyslexia is not a barrier to achieving excellence

Niveditha Warrier from Kerala was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was in class 9. She struggled a lot during her school days in a non-inclusive educational environment. But this youngster has beaten all odds to come out as a successful academician. Niveditha points out why teachers and parents must have awareness about disabilities and reach out to the child

The 2007 Aamir Khan – starrer Taare Zameen Par was an eye-opener about the daily struggles and plights of a child with dyslexia. The movie became a blockbuster. Twenty-five-year-old Niveditha Warrier from Kerala, who was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was in class 9, has lived this in real life and says that children with dyslexia undergo many such struggles.

Struggles in school

Niveditha lived with her relatives at Thrissur, a small town in Kerala. Until class 10, she studied in a prominent CBSE school which was not at all inclusive. She remembers the many harassments she used to face from teachers during that time. When she was in class 3, Niveditha realized that she was different from other students in academics. She clearly couldn’t grasp what was being taught.

In fact, my progress card was filled with red lines. I used to fail in most of the subjects. By the time I was in class 9, my teachers labelled me unfit to study. That was when one of my teachers realized that I have dyslexia. It was because her own son was also dyslexic. She made a difference to the way I learnt. She used to teach me things through mind mapping, visuals and so on. Even today, I follow that system.

After completing class 10 in flying colors, Niveditha took ‘Humanities’ for class 11 and 12. The school was much more inclusive and she started realizing how she could do better in academics.

A successful academician

After school, Niveditha did her under-graduation at Vimala College where she was also the college chairperson. “Until college, I had very low self-esteem and confidence because of the harassment and mocking that I underwent in school. Since I was the college chairperson, I could interact with many students and that changed my outlook towards life”, she says.

Niveditha later went on to pursue a post-graduation in English from Little Flower College. She did a summer fellowship program at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. She is now doing a research programme at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit. She is specialising in disability studies along with juvenile literature.

“Even today, I use the same techniques that I learnt in school to study. For dyslexic people, images and visuals really work. That is one of the main reasons that I took literature as my main”, she says.

Need to empower people with dyslexia

Niveditha points out that thousands of children with dyslexia still goes undiagnosed in schools across India. This is mainly due to lack of awareness amongst teachers and parents. There are different techniques that needs to be used to support and teach dyslexic children. With the right guidance, they can do really well in academics.

“Most of the teachers in our schools are in a hurry to brand the child as useless. They do not even realise the trauma the child experiences”. says Niveditha. “With a little patience and understanding from teachers, children with learning disabilities can be part of mainstream schools”, she says.

Niveditha has even worked as a teacher for six months with a college. When she is not busy with academics, Niveditha loves to anchor shows and is an ardent traveler too. She is also working closely with NGOs to start having scribes for children with dyslexia.

Sharada Devi, a wheelchair user from Thiruvananthapuram, is a research scholar. “I met her through social media and we have been really close friends ever since then. It was during one of the talk shows for an NGO that I came to know that she is dyslexic. In spite of a learning disability, Niveditha has worked hard and come out in flying colors. Our education system is definitely not inclusive. So I can imagine what she would have gone through. I hope all kids get lucky enough to emerge successful like her”, she says.

Watch in Sign Language

Also Read:

• Simple accommodations that can make school less stressful for kids with dyslexia