We Embrace, Accept CA

I was the Guest of Honor at the talent show of the newly formed non-profit for special needs individuals, We Embrace Accept CA. Accept CA was formed with a view to bridge the gap between the neurotypical experience and the special needs population.

It was an impressive set of performances from some quite "extra-ordinarly" special needs individuals. I was especially impressed by the bicycling skills of my 19 year old friend Athish who has CP. Most typical individuals take skills like biking for granted,  a skill that is easily mastered in childhood and then automated by the body. The act of biking actually involves all kinds of coordination, balance and motor skills. Athish has been learning to ride a bike only the last few months and was able to bike around the stage with little assistance all by himself. Bravo Athish! Athish's parents, Meena Kalyanasundaram and her husband Som are very old family friends of my folks and founders of Accept CA.

I also loved the Stand Up Comedy by 16 year old Riley Ross. This joke of autists taking phrases literally was definitely the best. His mom had told him his birthday was just around the corner and he walked around the block looking for it. He asked why his mom could not just have said that his birthday was the next week.  Young Aarnav has some lovely calendar skills - ask him any date in any years and within some 30-40 seconds, he comes back with the day of the week. He even throws in whether that year was a leap year or not.  Many of the kids performing have some pretty severe challenges, nevertheless they joyfully showcased  their Bollywood skills in the Happy Feet performance.

The Vatsalyam Bharatanatyam performance by co-founder Seena, was a poignant dance-drama portrayal of a mother's expectations and transformation. She expects  a typical child. the joy and fun activities she would have with that child. Instead she is bewildered with a child with  all kinds of issues that she was unprepared for. The dance interpretation of the transformation was quite riveting, especially the eye expressions.  She goes from devastation, grief and hurt to trying to pick up the pieces and fighting for her child. The sadness never quite goes up but it gets buried deeper along the way. I can totally understand as I have observed my mom (and Dad) go through many of these emotions. And these emotions are an ongoing process as disability continually brings with it periods of setbacks and new challenges at every stage of life which are very discouraging, yet they have to find the courage to move ahead.  I'd written a poem few years back, You Never Gave Up on Me.to appreciate not just my mom but all the mom's and caretakers.

I only stayed till intermission unfortunately. The mood-vagaries of my own disability caught up with me, causing a sudden bout of anxiety. It was just better for me to leave at that point. I was sad to have missed the rest of the event but I'm sure it was superb.

I know my journey has been an inspiration to many parents and given them lot of hope for their kids. A decade ago, no one would have thought that my someone with my significant level of challenges would make it to a world-class and top university such as UC Berkeley. Meena Aunty asked me to present a powerpoint of my journey plus any thoughts I had to share. The slides follow in next post

My family has known Athish and his parents Meena and Som since he was a baby and I’ve observed Athish’s progress over the years. Though we don’t communicate openly due to our respective sets of challenges, I could not be prouder to call him my friend. What a wonderful idea to start Accept CA.

Thanks Meena Aunty for having me there and honoring me as well by making me Guest of Honor.