India Inclusion Summit – 2017 – From The Eyes Of A Participant
The past week leading up to the India Inclusion Summit last weekend has been super exciting for Team KnowYourStar. Apart from volunteering to make handmade goodies for gifts and decor, co-anchoring the friend-raising circle, and interviewing the speakers of the summit, it was heart-warming to meet, greet and connect with some amazing people. The summit was a grand success and this year around, there was so much heart and love in the air! While we are super grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this movement, we would love to give you a run-down of what went down at the summit.
One of our dear friends, Mr. Srinivasan G, blogged about his experience at IIS 2017, and we found it summarising the event beautifully. So, here we go, reposting the article that was originally published here.
India Inclusion Summit 2017
With a sense of wonder, I reached Park Plaza, Marathahalli around 8 am for the summit. I had received multiple calls in last 2 weeks by a volunteer making the registration process smooth. My contact person inquired for any additional support needed, with a meticulous follow-up. On reaching, I saw a lot of specially enabled children and audience. Two people I recognised were the Carnatic musician T M Krishna and Feroze.
Krishna apologised for delay, started with a Tamil song on love and moved on to a Bengali song and then to a Hindi song. In between songs, Krishna was sharing his own inner questions.
- Can we look at “inclusion” as “not excluding”. Who gave us the right to include or exclude other?
- Why gender is looked within context of other divisions in society? Should gender be looked first?
This was followed by journey sharing by Shalini Saraswathi. Earlier when she introduced Krishna, I did not realise that she was specially abled. I met her parents over lunch and was blown away by how they take care of their daughter. Being a parent, my respect for her parents grew multi-fold for being a rock for their girl.
- Is it fear of the situation or helplessness of the situation? We need to accept both.
- How do we deal with our scars?
Then, there were a few more inspiring speakers like a lawyer with vision disorder and a UPSC officer with bone disorder. I was engaged in their talks, where they expressed the need for the constraints to be removed for the differently abled people, so they can also have the opportunities to achieve their potential.
- Believe in your own strength to design your destiny the way you want it.
- When we read someone’s biography, does biography share the challenges and vulnerability undergone by the person?
This was followed by a heartwarming story from the former Senator of the United States- Tom Harkins, who started with a desire to create inclusion the way of life for his brother. He shared how an approach to create an inclusive society can start by clearing path for people with special needs, as this actually has the power to clear the path for everyone.
This left me with a question to ponder upon driver-less cars beyond the loss of job for drivers.
- Can driver-less cars change lives for people with disability?
What followed was a discussion with Kris Gopalakrishnan, who shared insights into mental health, that led to his drive towards brain research. He pushed to make cure affordable and also emphasised on the need to balance our research with that done world-wide.
Sai Kaustav shared his story starting from being confined to a small room to becoming a renowned graphic designer.
- Make Sufferings your Surprises; your Surprises will make you Smile; with a Smile who is there to Stop you!
Prashant Kamat, content writer at Mindtree was the next speaker. His sister came along to the stage. She shares that the only regret growing up with her brother who was specially enabled was- “No sibling fights!”. Prashant had a surprise video from his teacher at Spastics Society, Bangalore. At this point, I was amazed by the focused attention of the IIS volunteers!
- “The work we do at Mindtree is all about inclusion. We are given a lot of freedom in our workplace to exercise our choices.”
- Life throws challenges at us. We must keep the faith. Believe in yourself. Only then others can believe in you and your abilities. Do not be limited by your constraints; challenge your limits.
During lunch, I observed the food arrangement for specially enabled folks. My curiosity lead me to these learnings!
- Their counter was closer to audience, while ours were farther.
- Their tables were of lower height to enable person on wheel chair to take their own food with little or no help.
- The specially enabled folks have come with their parents or friends who helped them to eat and other activities.
Started to realise why volunteers called multiple times to check whether I needed support for the event. They were showering me with attention and care!
I met 22-year-old anchor/dancer/writer Meghana who believes disability isn’t merely physical but people with a negative attitude are truly disabled. In a crude form, I articulate her optimistic attitude as “I am blind. I cannot see you. It is not a problem. I can dance and make you see me.”
We saw a play hosted by a mix of people and specially enabled children. While I was enjoying the play, a mother who sat next to me proudly shared that her daughter was in the play in the wheel chair. She looked too small and thought that the girl should be smaller than my second daughter (10 years). Made me realise what is love and affection of a mother towards her child. (My mother died when I was 12 years old.)
Heard storyteller, film director- Nagesh Kukunoor, share observation that movies focus more to create sympathy rather than empathy for specially abled people. He added how he chose to direct 2 movies where the movie is a happy story around main actors who happen to be disabled.
- Movie needs to be taken based on story and not based on cause, while one can be smart to may be embed the cause inside the story.
- Magic happens when one believes. Hope builds when we listen to stories. Stories make us believe that miracles happen with hard work and persistence.
The next speaker, Major Anuradha runs a trust for PWD children in Asthagram, Kurnool in MP. She did a live show of how tribal children can be enabled irrespective of the fact that they are specially enabled. She was sending a message that “A normal child becomes more sensitive and sharper when they study along with specially abled children.” This was followed by two entertaining performances!
- Prahalad Acharya who made us to listen and see wonderful stories told through shadows. The thought was that shadows comes along with us everywhere and anywhere!
- Vasu Dixit, who brought folk-rock to the masses in Kannada. IIS 2017 event that started with music ended with music!
My blog remains incomplete if I do not thank Leo & Sridevi for live translation of all session. Great job at sign language by them!
Finally, I said to myself- “All my so-called sufferings are nothing compared to the suffering of the specially abled children, their parents and families. Hence I need to build resilience in myself.”
Talking about our problems is our greatest addiction. Break the habit. Think positive. Talk about your joys!
If there’s any story that needs to be told, we will tell it. Write to us at contact@knowyourstar.com with your story lead, or contact us on Facebook or Twitter.
Feeling fortunate to go through the most touching story. I happen to know Sai Kaustuv from 2006. Through him,I have learnt a lot about what you did mention Empathy Not Sympathy and Inclusive world , not exclusive. I pray to Sai Baba,He would be showing the right path for all > Be an led, or disabled or specially an led. I have seen a specially an led swimmer in Olympic, winning glory for us Indians.
Thanks anyway.
Sai Ram
Now at Kolkata