The #biggesthighlight of the #GratitudeGala Night - One of our #PRAGNYA parents called us yesterday to share a huge significant #Leap Ahead of his Darling son Adarsh who is featured in this video. Adarsh’s speech was impromptu, no one expected him to come up and talk and when his father had spoken with him earlier at home about what he might be able to include in his speech (The parent had volunteered to share what being part of PRAGNYA meant to their family) - Adarsh was not comfortable sharing about his injury etc. and was rather reticent.
So This speech on his own, came as a surprise - and when his parents asked him why or what triggered him to come and share, when he didnt want his father to even mention it the very same morning, Adarsh said that it was the Spirit of the event, when he saw us *sharing about each and every single Ally and volunteer such intricate details and expressing gratitude that he was moved and obliged to share himself about how much PRAGNYA has touched him* - so proud of you Adarsh .... thank you !
For those of you who dont know Adarsh, let me share how much of a BIG deal it is for neurodiverse individuals like him - someone who has tremendous anxiety, and who is extremely reticent to overcome that and speak in front of an audience ! This child took 6 weeks to come to PRAGNYA - his father would drive him but he would refuse to come in - behaviors escalate when you force someone to do something against their will - and so, we wanted it to be as comfortable for him as possible to even meet us - it took six meetings, just “His and byes” and smiling and wishing him outside every single time for him to finally make it into the studio to just meet us - (even when he came in he sat with his back to us .... with his hoodie tightly covering him up and refusing to talk to anyone ... our small win was that by the end of the meeting with his father... adarsh’s chair had turned sideways towards us and his hoodie was loosely dangling over his head - we celebrated that and then when he decided to try coming to session - our PRAGNYA allies were so warm and welcoming that - he told his dad he wanted to keep coming here (bear in mind, he was already part of a Stanford Social Group but he felt strongly about PRAGNYA that he asked to keep coming back).... that, Bandhus, is what #PRAGNYA is - that is what #love and #acceptance does to our #neurodiverse Individuals as well ! #GodSpeed.