Advantages Of Being A PWS

I have been stammering since I was 5-6 years old, and every time I used to think that when will this curse get away from me. Being a PWS we all have our own haunted moments where we were not able to utter a single word and we were not able to understand the reason behind hyper anxiety in front of strangers while we used to speak very comfortably when we were alone.

I joined TISA in 2019, and since then I have made improvements in my communication skills (at least I was able to speak in front of a few people while stammering) and after completing my TOPG course, I love playing with my stammering in front of strangers. 

Only after that, I started to think about my stammering in a different way, even a wall clock that is not working shows the correct time 2 times a day, I being a PWS might have an advantage over non-PWS. I started to read a lot of online articles on the benefits of stammering and came up with these few positive points of being a PWS. I might be wrong in a few points since I don’t belong to the field of psychology but I love reading about different topics. 

• According to research, we PWS are more aware of the mistakes we make (not only in our speech but also in our profession) and not only that but we are more eager to correct it. Which makes us sure to excel in any field only if we are willing to work on correcting/ not repeating our mistakes. It makes us eager learners and more driven towards perfection.

• We have high emotional intelligence, empathy is our power. We have a higher understanding of people who are in suffering/ pain. Whenever someone is not well in my nuclear family or close friends, I can feel his pain and want to anything by which he/she can feel good. This is the reason why we are so close to our friends and no friend can afford to lose a PWS friend.

• Stammering has taught us about being humble, we have learned from a very young age that we should be polite to everyone we meet because we have no idea what internal battle the other person might be fighting. We hate to be rude to anyone, even if due to any reason we become rude, in no time we accept our mistake. All thanks to stammering.

• We are hard workers, remember last time when you had a presentation in your school/ office. Non-pws prepare only on the content but we prepare not only on the topic but also on the words we will be speaking during the presentation.  Stammering gives us a chance to plan what we want to say and how we want to say it well it advance, which means we already have strong language and communication skills. We just need to polish it a little bit.

• Great thinkers say that ‘Courage is not giving up in front of your fears’, in that way we PWS are the most courageous people. Before being part of TISA, even going to the market and asking for basic things to the shopkeeper was a challenge for us still, we took up that challenge.

• Being a PWS has made me a good communicator as we don’t take spoken word for granted, value communication in any form and we are great listeners. Ask any of your married PWS friends, our good listening skills and high emotional intelligence makes us good partners.

• According to me, the most important thing stammering has taught me is patience. As life has ups and downs, even our stammering has its own ups and downs. If we are stammering a lot today we know that tomorrow or someday it will get better (If we are willing to apply techniques to control it), so does life.

 Stammering is not a negative thing or a curse to run away from, it brings a lot of unique types of intelligence, skills, and character traits and,  researchers and psychologists can’t deny this fact. 

If you are having a hard time with your stammering, this lines are for you:

राही तू मत रुक जाना, तूफ़ाँ से मत घबराना

कभी तो मिलेगी तेरी मंज़िल, कहीं दूर गगन की छाँव में

माना कि गहरी है धारा, पर है कहीं तो किनारा

तू भी मिला आशा के सुर में, मन का ये एकतारा

कभी तो मिलेगी तेरी मंज़िल, कहीं दूर गगन की छाँव में