Nurturer and Therapist, Director and Co- Founder, Sarahana, Center for Kids with Special Needs, New Delhi, India

My heart burst in India. In a country of 1.3 billion there are a mere 100 trained developmental pediatricians for every 50 million people, according to Times of India’s 2017 article. This paints a devastatingly grim outlook for the country’s children growing up with physical and mental disabilities. As a result according to a report by Social and Rural Research Institute, 28.07% children with special needs grow up illiterate, out of school and left for the remainder of their lives struggling for livelihood and dignity.

Parents seem to also lack the health, social, and economic support to be able to provide the needed care and assistance to their child. A child is often placed in an institution as a means to get an education as there are no inclusive schools or day-care facilities in their communities. Needless to say that children left in institutions are at a higher risk of physical or psychological violence, or both, including as punishment for behaviors directly related to their disabilities. Such physical punishments included beatings; pouring cold water over children’s heads; the use of physical restraints and isolation, including binding children to cribs or wheelchairs and a forced psychiatric hospitalization. Human Rights Watch concluded that children with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities are particularly vulnerable to violence and experience 4.6 times greater risk of sexual assault than children without disabilities.

Human Rights Watch research in India and Indonesia found that families often keep girls with special needs chained, locked at home, or in the custody of an institution, rather than using non-abusive means to ensure the girls do not wander away from home and potentially become targets for sexual violence.

Private day centers or NGOs/charities like Sarãhana are a godsend to children and their parents. WOW Women Ms. Vinita Kumar and Ms. Rupa Dasgupta established Sarãhana in New Delhi as an NGO in 2007, to serve children with learning disorders and autism. Kumar and Dasgupta, along with an extensive staff of trained workers also provide support and services to parents and care givers. Every child under their watch is given the intervention and care, with a goal of increased self-sufficiency, learning and development of independent skills. Parents are armed with proper coping tools and become better informed about the individualized needs of their child, thus increasing the hope of a brighter future for the youngster.

Through WOW Woman images and words you can feel Rupa’s kindness and compassion. She truly locks eyes with the child, patiently explains, addresses, soothes. I am happy to shine spotlight on this WOW Woman, and celebrate the achievements of the center that probably serves as a beacon of hope for so many families in the community. Please enjoy this interview brought to you from New Delhi, India.

1. Name.

Rupa Dasgupta.

2. Where is your hometown?

New Delhi, India.

3. What is your profession/career/title/self-label/designation?

Occupational Therapist, Director and Co- Founder of Sarahana Society for welfare and development.

4. What did you study in school?

Rehabilitation in Occupational Therapy, Neuro-developmental therapy.

5. What was the journey like to get where you are (in life and career-wise)? What are some accomplishments you’re most proud of, and what was the turning point to set you on a current path in life?

Being around children and playing with them was something that I have always enjoyed. Even when I was a girl of seven or eight I would get drawn to infants and young kids. Parents felt comfortable leaving their kids with me. I was born in Delhi and did my schooling and college in Delhi. Being an only child,  I was over-protected by my mother , who would have panic attacks from watching me ride a bike or a mere mention of enrolling in swimming classes. She only let me go to school, study and play in the park with the other kids.

But I had plans of my own. I did learn to bike. I did learn to swim. All on the sly. The taste of being a rebel was really beginning to entice me. My life got more and more adventurous with some caution as my guide and as a gift from my mother.

My goal was to become a photo-journalist as I was an ardent fan of the National-Geographic magazine. In those days Indian television was very basic with just two channels and mostly black and white, so books and magazines were my friends; I couldn't get enough of them. I enrolled in a prestigious university to study English, as journalism in those days was only a master's program. English, as a subject, seemed very dry and boring. I quickly realized that this was not what I had wanted to do. Every day seemed like a waste of time.

My father had always wanted me to get into medicine. One day he took me on a visit to a hospital to get an idea of what a doctor did. During that visit his intention was probably not what my epiphany ended up being about. I saw the Physical Therapy department.

I wanted to be a therapist. Not a doctor who sat on the other side of the table and grumpily writing out prescriptions.I changed my course and enrolled to study Occupational Therapy. It was the greatest gift that I could have given to myself. I have worked with many people and in different countries: in Sweden, different cities in United States and all over India. I studied and took many courses, specializing in Developmental Neurology.

I have learned from the elderly, the young and the tiny infants about how to best turn my hands into healing hands, my mind into a reading mind, my ears into listening ears and my eyes into observers.

I feel fortunate that these gifts were given to me. I’m grateful to have met the various people on my journey and to have been able to receive love from them.

In between all this, I got married to a scientist with a background in organic chemistry. Together we worked,  travelled the world and had two children. But I call myself the mother of all the children who are in Sarahana.

Sarahana, a centre for children with special needs, happened to me when I met Abhishek as his therapist and Vinita Kumar, his mother. We co-founded the organisation in 2007 in the basement of her house.

Throughout my life, the most important and vital lesson I have learned is practicing empathy. The state the world is in at the moment is due to a sheer lack of it. Relationships are falling apart because our ego is in a survival mode and we are collectively experiencing the absence of compassion and understanding in our society.

As a woman in a professional field in India, where it is a constant rat race, aggression seems to be the norm in interactions. Aggression has become the tool of negotiations and interactions on a global scale as well. But this is where every woman must retain the essence of being a woman and remain compassionate, loving and empathetic. It's so much easier to win hearts, forge new relationships, open new chapters and resolve conflicts.

Empathy dilutes and dissolves ego, control, anger and frustration.

6. How is your life different from what you pictured at 20?

At 20, I pictured myself travelling the world as a photo-journalist. Instead, I have travelled the world as an Occupational Therapist.

7. Was there a time when life knocked you down or out and how did you get back up on your feet?

I lost my father from brain cancer quite suddenly and soon after that my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a long process of an entire year of radical surgery, radiation and chemo therapy. That partly took the wind out of my sails but I did continue with my work, while simultaneously taking care of my mom. She has been a cancer survivor for 15 years now.

8. Advice for other women?

Follow your passion firstly, be focused on the work and money will follow. Never stop being a woman, the beauty of being a woman is compassion, empathy and love. Never lose those finer aspects of being a woman in this aggressive world.

9. Knowing what we know now in a current political climate, can women be "all that we can be" in today's world? What is the way forward, as you see it, for "feminist values"?

I believe in being humane first. The rest follows. World is not a fair place and each of us has to work towards achieving our goals. Each woman must stand up for the other woman. But be careful and cautious too.

11. What extra-curricular activities/hobbies are you most proud of?

I am a jack of many hobbies and a master of none. I do enjoy sketching, knitting, crocheting, singing, dancing and doing anything that is creative in nature.

12. What do you want to be when you grow up? Future goals/challenges?

Professionally, I would like to see the children at a better place in their communities. Personally, to be a happy soul.

13. What fears are you still hoping to overcome?

The fear of losing a loved one, how to make sense of it and then how to move on.

14. Anything you'd do differently, if you had another go at life?

Is there any other way I would have lived my life? Definitely not! Life has given me beauty and lots of love in return. The lessons I have learned have only made me stronger. I have been blessed ! The purpose and inspiration are to continue working and be of help and a source of motivation.

16. What are you hopeful about?

I have hope in mankind. I hope we will learn and change and be better people. That we will take care of the earth and its people. That greed will be replaced by common sense and practicality.

17. What are some ingredients to a good life?

A loving family and good values of caring, sharing and kindness.

18. What are (at least) three qualities you most love about yourself and why?

I can be on my own and enjoy my own company, I love reading books and enjoy simple living.

19. What advice would you give your 14-year-old self?

It will all work out fine.

20. What are you reading now? (what books do you gift most and what are your favourite reads?)

I usually read two or three books at a time. Currently I am reading Rivers of Smoke (second book in the trilogy) by Amitava Ghosh and Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.

21. Who is a WOW Woman in your world who inspires you and why? Can you nominate three (or more) women you know who perfectly fit WOW WOMAN description? What would you tell them, if you had an opportunity, why you admire them?

Every woman who is striving to bring about change for the better is my hero. No work is small, each step, every ounce of labour is what makes this ocean of wonderful women. But out of all of them all I do adore Jane Goodall very much. Can you imagine sitting alone in a dense jungle of Africa trying to connect with the chimpanzees? Through her eyes, ears, touch and surely, through empathy.

22. Where can others find you/your work (links to websites, blogs, etc.)?

Facebook: Sarahana SWD

Web: Sarahana.org

LinkedIn: Rupa Dasgupta