: I Was Called Mentally Retarded. Heres How I Went on to Inspire Dr APJ Kalam #IndiaNEWS #Disability An accomplished author. An experienced banker. A pioneering Certified Documentary Credit Specialist.

I Was Called Mentally Retarded. Heres How I Went on to Inspire Dr APJ Kalam #IndiaNEWS #Disability
An accomplished author. An experienced banker. A pioneering Certified Documentary Credit Specialist. A sought after motivational speaker. Many achievements, one name Siddharth Jayakumar from Bengaluru.
There is one more thing to know about Siddarth. Originally from Chikmagaluru, Siddharth was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP) when he was merely six days old.
CP is a condition that affects the coordination between mind and body. In Siddharths case, CP affected his body movement and speech clarity.
But Siddharth, a banker by professions, never let the circumstances win and instead focused on building a life where he would accomplish every goal, no matter how challenging.
And he did.
His journey from being labelled as mentally retarded’ by society to being hailed as an inspiration by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam is real inspiration.
I see the world very differently, where society has nothing to do with my success or failure. Only I am responsible for where my life goes. I believe that change begins with me. Having a disability is not easy in a society that is largely ignorant and insensitive. There are all kinds of people, some mock you and some support you unconditionally, but that in no way should affect me, Siddharth tells The Better India.

A Fighters Spirit
Six days after Siddharth was born, he was diagnosed with CP.
When we took him to doctors, he was diagnosed with mental retardation. We were shocked, recalls his mother, Komala Jayakumar in Simply Being Sidds! My Fight with Life and God, a book written by Siddharth along with his friend Umashree Raghunath in 2017.
His parents were appalled at the doctors comment, giving them an insight into how ignorant and nasty society could get. They refused to believe their son was any less. They were sure he was brilliant.
So they braced themselves and from very early on gave him the confidence that he could have everything he wanted.
For nearly eight years, I stayed at home with no friends or schoolmates until I joined the Spastic Society of India in Bengaluru. I learnt typing with one finger and enjoyed doing maths. Seeing my quick learning abilities, I was directly promoted to second grade from upper kindergarten, he shares.

He switched to Vidya Sagar, a school in Chennai for spastic children after his father, a PR professional, got a transfer. He continued his studies until the eighth grade and then joined a regular school.
This served as a turning point for Siddharth as now he had to study alongside regular kids. Mocking and stares became an everyday affair, but he was glad to see more and more students learning about CP through him.
In his 10th boards, Siddharth scored 98 per cent in his favourite subject, Maths.