Awareness days come and go but for those who live with the conditions – or love those who do – like the children and families in our community, they’re a lived reality. So this year, we turned 2 April, World Autism Day, into a weeklong celebration.
Autism’s everywhere this month, and quite literally too, with our buses and vans ferrying our students and trainees across Dehradun festooned with important messages about the condition.
The idea was to plant a seed. “What is autism?” “Why’s Latika talking about it?” If we get people wondering, talking, Googling, we’re halfway there.
We kicked off the celebrations with an in-house celebration. Staff and students wearing blue sang ‘Har Autistic Vyakti Jaanta Hai ki Latika Usse Pehchanta Hai,’ a song composed by Rupa Bishnoi, Director, Wabi-Sabi, attesting to the fact that every child at Latika knows they’re seen and valued. There was dancing, a lively autism quiz, and time to reflect on how far we’ve come.
A new initiative this year was the formation of a Parent Empowerment Team – a group of parents mobilized to raise awareness in their own neighbourhoods. Together with our special educators, therapists and project heads, they got busy at community halls, temples, even parking lots, wherever people were willing to gather. One booked a government school hall, and no small feat, had 50 attendees. Ten such community-led sessions took place across the city, with raw, honest conversations between parents, neighbors, friends, and strangers about what autism is and isn’t. Our team was armed with charts, but it was the voices of parents that broke through the noise.
Meanwhile our Wabi-Sabi Inclusion Team was busy educating India’s future educators across 13 B.Ed. colleges in the city. Since we’d done this last year as well, the faculty primed their students so that they knew what to expect and came prepared. Questions flew. Real-life examples surfaced. Conversations moved from theory to real life. When education students ask questions about behavior, inclusion, and support, they’re more likely to become teachers who truly see every child in the classroom.
While this Autism Week was the loudest we’ve ever been, our goal is quiet, steady change so that no child goes unnoticed. Our aim is to provide services ourselves, and help others do the same because we can’t, obviously, be everywhere and all things to everyone. So whether you’re a civic group, a college, or a school, we’re here to partner. If you’re a parent seeking answers, we see you. Our family-centered assessment and diagnosis services don’t just point out areas of difficulty; we show you what’s possible. We help you understand your child’s strengths, work with your family’s routines, and train you in the practical, doable steps that can make a world of difference. We offer individualized training sessions, such as on managing behaviour, building daily skills, simply creating calm and much more, because when parents, teachers and caregivers feel equipped and hopeful, children thrive.
When we began with just four kids over 30 years ago, we meant to be in for the long hall. Disability inclusion isn’t a project a Latika. It’s a way to build a better world, one classroom, one neighbourhood, one curious question at a time.
