Don’t label us, look beyond; says this book
Telling their stories: Shalini Wickremesooriya. Pic by Amila Gamage
Shalini Wickremesooriya is a counselling psychologist, speech and language therapist and psychotherapist who has worked with toddlers as young as 1 ½ to adults aged 92. Currently based in Canada and Sri Lanka, she has gained much experience working with individuals with disabilities, all across the globe. Her book titled ‘Invincible’ is a compilation of the life stories of some of the people she has encountered told from their perspective.
Shalini earned her doctoral degree from the University of Sheffield UK. A certified member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, UK, she uses a combination of psychology, speech therapy and psychotherapy to better understand individuals with disabilities. She is a firm believer in the fact that people with disabilities aren’t that different from everyone else. “Why are we taking 10% of the population and calling them differently abled? Aren’t we all differently abled?” she says with conviction.
The main mistake made when dealing with anyone who is considered to be an individual with disabilities is that “we like to label them and put them into a box and say oh! so and so has autism or ADHD or whatever but we don’t take the trouble to look at the person inside and see what they are really like,” she explains. She feels that when people attempt to label someone, they are restricting their understanding of the person to a set of predetermined symptoms. “We don’t try to understand the person – instead we focus on the symptoms,” she says. Her stories do not explicitly state the disorder the people in the stories are batling– instead they focus on giving an idea of how someone thinks and views the world – an insight into their soul. The stories were penned by the people themselves as therapy – she merely edited the book and changed the names to protect their privacy.
Shalini believes that everyone should dedicate some time to remove the stigma attached to mental illness and make society more inclusive. She feels that the book isn’t only for people who are living with someone who is an individual with disabilities but is instead for the whole of society. “Try to see their strengths, abilities and goodness.” She also poses a very important question for people to consider. “Do I look upon them with love or a need to pass judgement?” Regarding the book, she feels that changing the world of even one person is sufficient for her. “If I have reached and touched at least one person, then that makes my effort worth it,” she says.
‘Invincible’ is priced at Rs. 750 and is currently available online. It will be available at all major bookshops from December 3.
