About the Author: My name is Puneet Singh Singhal from New Delhi, India. I am a person with an undiagnosed learning disability and stammering. I see my life as the intersection of poverty, domestic violence, and multiple invisible disabilities. I am a disability activist advocating for a more inclusive and accessible society for people with different and distinct, visible and invisible disabilities. I am the founder of a non-profit called ssstart, working towards normalizing speech and communication disabilities.

We are here,

We were there, 

We will always be here and there, or somewhere,

We are unseen and unheard.

Tired of being hidden and neglected,

drained, exhausted and full of distress,

we are what we are,

shamed and ridiculed of what we are,

we wish to free our stuttering voices,

we pray to speak up and flaunt our stutter unapologetically.

Let’s make a pledge,

Let’s craft a blessing, 

blessing of listening.

Listening with patience,

listening without interruption,

listening with empathy,

listening without prejudging,

listening with warmth,

listening without prejudice,

listening with admiration,

listening without correcting,

listening with respect,

listening without running,

listening with poise,

listening without arrogance,

listening with humbleness.

Then with the power of this blessing

there will be love, compassion and joy.

The endless and limitless feeling of belonging

that we are longing for.

This will end our endless wait for inclusion,

this will end the stigma, the bias, the shame

and our lifelong resentment, despair and misery.

And will bring harmony, amity and unity.

The onus lies on us, on all of us.

Let’s start now.

Let’s do all this together.