Journey

My journey with inclusion began long before I had the language for it. I grew up in Kanpur and began my early work teaching computer education to children and young people who did not have access to it.

I taught computer education to 1,500+ children and young people across multiple Tier-2 cities in Uttar Pradesh.

The work was about giving young people access to education, computer skills, confidence and the possibility of a different future.

During college, India Vision Foundation brought her into rehabilitation and skill-building work within Tihar Jail, alongside Dr. Kiran Bedi. The work involved teaching computer studies and skills that could help people work, earn and support their families — even while they were still in prison.

For some, the work brought something else with it.

Purpose.

Seeing how access to a skill could change the way someone saw their own future ignited something in her.

What happens when someone is given access to something they have never had before?

I did not know it then, but the idea of inclusion was already at the centre of my work.

My professional journey then moved into design. I studied Design at Pearl Academy and worked across creative businesses including Pernia Qureshi, Lulu & Sky and Inthing Creations.

Design changed the way I looked at objects, environments, systems, communication and the people moving through them.

And the meaning of childhood changed for me. Childhood was no longer something I was only looking at from the outside. I was now watching it unfold every day, closely and personally.

I became increasingly curious about how children develop, how they experience the world and how much the world around them shapes that experience.

What does the world look like from the child’s side? What are we asking children to adapt to that we could change instead?

The more she worked with children, the more those questions moved into practice.

The way I thought about inclusion began to expand. It was no longer only about giving someone access to a computer or a skill.

It became about access to communication, education, books, spaces, participation, understanding and belonging.

Early Childhood Development: Global Strategies for Intervention — Harvard

The work began moving deeper into how children learn, communicate, participate and belong.

Working with children and educators brought those questions into classrooms and learning spaces.

What does inclusion look like before a child is identified as different?

What happens when communication is not limited to speech?

What happens when we support the adults around children as carefully as we support children themselves?

The books led to storytelling.

Storytelling led to schools.

Schools led to conversations with children, caregivers and educators.

And those conversations brought her closer to the experience of being a child.

• Into communication.
• Into access.
• Into reading.
• Into educator wellbeing.
• Into inclusion.
• Into conversations about childhood.
• Into research.