By Craig McIntosh
Staff writer
As a child, Zainab Farooqui all but gave up on the idea of talking. An inhibiting speech disfluency made it difficult for her to feel understood, so she simply retreated to the relative safety of silence.
People in her native Pakistan, including doctors, speculated that her problem was a genetic disorder, the result of some childhood trauma, or simply an 8-year-old acting out for attention. But with no obvious solution in sight, Farooqui began to fear the spoken word.
‘Despite wanting to participate, I let my disfluency get in the way,’ she said. ‘I abstained from anything that took me out of my comfort zone, doubting my intelligence, wit, artistic ability and creativity.’
Some 10 years on, as Farooqui starts at Duke Kunshan in the undergraduate Class of 2023, it might be hard for many to picture this articulate, outgoing young woman as once a shy girl lacking in confidence.
As is common, the disfluency eased as she entered adolescence and eventually disappeared. When she joined an international baccalaureate (IB) program at a school in Lahore, she learned that ‘speaking confidently, coherently and critically was an everyday demand.’
Yet that period of self-doubt as a child, during which she could only write down her thoughts and aspirations rather than speak them aloud, left a deep impression.
On the IB program, which attracted high-achieving students from different schools and cities, Farooqui said she realized that addressing an audience can be daunting for anyone. So she started a school club called I Have a Voice to help classmates tackle their fear of public speaking.
Around the same time, she also began volunteering at a support center for children with autism, a neurological condition characterized by difficulties in social interaction and communication.
Farooqui helped develop a curriculum for children under 3 years old, assisted with speech and communication counselling, and led arts, crafts and cookery activities.
‘While my experience with speech issues was not the primary reason I was interested in the state of mental and physical disabilities in Pakistan, it was the foundation of my perception of it. As I grew older, that initial perception helped me comprehend a great deal of what the general issues were. It also helped me connect with the children at the center.’
Life at the autism support center had a profound impact, she said.
‘Volunteering at such a place is stressful, but, along with my own experience with disfluency, it helped teach me that there’s a dire need for public awareness regarding the representation of disabled people in society.’
The experience inspired Farooqui to launch a mental health and disability awareness campaign, aiming to combat the stigma attached to such issues in Pakistan. This included volunteering at a special section of Lahore’s Children Library Complex and writing a report on the facility’s effect on encouraging educational inclusion among disabled children.
‘I hope I can change the status quo of silence regarding disability and help kids discover their ‘voice,’ as no one deserves to be inhibited by a disability,’ she said.
After starting her studies at Duke Kunshan, Farooqui said she hopes to gain a wider, global perspective on issues of disability.
‘I want to learn how autism is treated in Nigeria, how the vocally impaired survive in China, or what facilities Sweden provides physically disabled people,’ she added. ‘Whatever truths you take into university are liable to change, and that’s not something to fear. I am eager to challenge what I know and believe, and DKU is the perfect place to do that.’
