Last night, while performing a task in Khatron Ke Khiladi Season 11, contestant Abhinav Shukla confessed that he’s borderline dyslexic and has difficulty remembering dates and names. However, he is exceptional at spatial ability. Later, he took to social media and shared how it took him two decades to come to terms with the condition and admit that he’s differently-abled.
Image Credit: Abhinav Shukla, Instagram
Making it public and conveying the same to his fans through his Instagram post, he wrote, “I am borderline dyslexic, it is public now! So I will divulge more. It’s nobody’s fault, not even mine, it is what it is! It took me two decades to accept this fact! Now numbers and figures don’t embarrass me! I am exceptional in spatial ability. I am differently-abled!”
Elaborating on it, he wrote, “Yeah, numbers, alphabets, words confound me, I have difficulty remembering dates, names, relation of those dates to names et al. But I am exceptional at spatial ability. Ask me to put all your extra luggage in your car’s boot (Dicky). I will! I am good at a few things and bad at a few! And I am in a perpetual process of improving on things I am bad at.”
The actor is known as the most well read and knowledgeable guy on the show, and was soon lauded by fellow contestants. Actor Arjun Bijlani wrote, “All I know is ur a rockstar.” Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya wrote, “What you are speaking about is a tiny blip in comparison to your vast list of abilities. You amazed me Abhinav with your knowledge about everything. You can hold detailed conversations about vegetation to space to human behaviour! It was always comforting having you around. A balanced & unbiased friend/ person towards all. The world needs more people like you.”
Image Credit: Abhinav Shukla, Instagram
TV actress Ekta Kaul commented that she had ADD (attention deficit disorder), “@ashukla09 Rambo I have to ADD.. so if you see me awkwardly smiling in a conversation, just know I am zoned out. But this condition Really helped me post marriage.. Zoning out is my super power.”
For the uninformed, dyslexia is a learning disability or learning disorder and, unfortunately, the diagnosis still carries a social stigma. Especially in India, where parents desist from admitting that their child experiences certain learning obstacles—Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par mirrors just this.
It is a neurological disorder where the person experiences severe difficulty in reading, and in interpreting letters and numbers. It does take a lot of courage to come out with it and kudos to Abhinav who did his bit to destigmatize this condition. It is important to recognize the condition and the indifference towards ‘slow’ learners needs to be stopped. Previously, Abhishek Bachchan had also admitted that he was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of nine.
Lead Image Credit: Abhinav Shukla, Instagram
