Looking at the confident young Managing Director of Blink Research and Services today, you would find it very hard to believe that Arun Fernandez was diagnosed with dyslexia after he turned thirteen. His childhood memories are full of people labeling him ‘stupid’ or ‘useless’ and his frustration at his own inability to read. His father could not fathom how his articulate son who did so excellently in Sports was struggling with reading and writing his lessons.
But the shining light in his life was – and is – his mother whose unflinching faith in her son’s abil-ities pulled him through every single discourage-ment that he encountered. Arun says: “I can also say that my life shows how the innocent faith of an uneducated mother in her child can influence a person’s life. One need not be highly educat-ed to encourage their child. They only need to have faith that their child will do well. I have not seen many parents having this confidence. Even though my mother did not understand what dys-lexia was, or understand why I was not writing or scoring marks, she understood my difficulties.” As he moved up the grades in school (he change dmore than four schools by the time he was 13 years old), his academics were complicated with his need for a scribe to write exams, which was seldom recognized by others as a legitimate need – so much so that he was compelled to write his own examination in his XII Grade. He took on that challenge and successfully graduated from school, and then went on to do a B Com, MSW (Professional Social worker) and MBA from Loyola College, Chennai. He went on to teach in the same college, as a lecturer.
The burning mission in Arun Fernandez’s life now is to help the 35 million dyslexic children in India, for he is proof that this is not a permanent condition. The VAKT (visual, auditory, kinesthet-ic, tactile) learning module that Blink Research & Services has developed addresses the unique needs of children with this condition, and helps children learn words in the same way that one learns walking, swimming or driving. The app is now in the beta stage.
“Children with dyslexia are termed ‘dyslexic children’. If someone has a cold or a fever, we will only say that they have a cold or a fever. We will not say that they are feverish all through their life. But children with dyslexia are regarded as though they are afflicted with a permanent disorder. I differ on that. It is not a permanent disorder. If there is the right remedial care, it can change.” Do we need greater proof of this than Fernandez himself?
“By 2022” Fernandez declares, “we will have a solution and this will not be a company’s solution but will be the dream of one boy who has suffered all sorts of ridicule.”
– Dr.Neeraja Raghavan
