Welcome to Annual Inclusion Festival 2024
At Not That Different, India’s first child-led movement to embrace neurodiversity and inclusion, we are putting the onus on the majority viz neurotypicals for real inclusion.
What is special about our 3rd edition of the Inclusion Festival. Lots!
We are excited to build a truly inclusive festival this year- Celebrating neurodivergent strengths everyday with digital spotlights curated by neurodivergent graphic design students at Ishanya India Foundation and with participation goodies and certificates handcrafted by neurodivergent students at Will At Work! Powered by Ek Step Foundation. Listen to our co-founder and BBC 100 Women’21, Mugdha Kalra telling you all about it!
Why this fest?
This is a truly inclusive festival which showcases neurodivergent strengths of our young friends to the whole world.
Kids are curious, free of judgement and will naturally grow up to be inclusive adults if they continuing to drive inclusion throughout school, college, workplace. When they see their neurodivergent friends outside their labels, love and understand them, they realize at the end of the day, we are all Not That Different.
Last year we received entries from neurodivergent participants on the autism spectrum, with down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, dyspraxia and not just from the Indian metros but also from tier 2 cities and places like Dubai, Singapore, Kuwait, sharing their strengths in singing, art, swimming, bongo playing, beading, even bollywood quizzing!
We were invited to speak at Stanford Neurodiversity Programme about our little yet ambitious movement in India.
So, what does inclusion look like? Here is a glimpse of focusing on strengths and building new friendships.
Caring for the Caregiver
Inclusion Fest 2024 Entries
At the India Inclusion Summit , our co-founder Mugdha spoke about the role of caregivers, why their own well being matters and released her handbook for caregivers- I See You . I Get You
Led by Bookosmia facilitators Shwetha Srivathsan, Parent Advocate and Bhargavi Raman, Expressive Arts Therapist, this interactive session introduces the concept of neurodiversity and explores how we can foster social inclusion by embracing our unique differences, to education
At Ekya Find Festival, Bangalore, 17th Nov.
Register here
Bookosmia Founder and Not That Different Co-founder , Nidhi Mishra will be giving a TedX talk on the need to innovate and disrupt current publishing standards to include all voices on 23rd Nov.
Award-winning author and our co-founder Archana Mohan will be talking about inclusive writing in children’s books and run a storytelling of her acclaimed book Extra at the Vizag Lit Fest.
Shwetha talks with moms Gopika Kapoor and Moneisha Gandhi, Vir and Mihaan creators of Buddy Up, a social platform for people with disabilities
*To be released*
Shwetha talks with Professor Charlotte Valeur of Institute Of Neurodiversity ION which has presence in all continents, as she explores if being a neurodivergent would help a parent understand their neurodivergent child better. *To be released*
Watch the amazing entries, the joyful participation and the varied strengths of our neurodiverse participants last year.
Launch of the first edition of Inclusion Festival on Friendship Day- Listen to different stories. Make new friends. Why a storytelling festival celebrating neurodiversity. Watch the launch event with acclaimed storyteller Shivani Dhillon, BBC’100 Women and inclusion advocate Mugdha Kalra, veteran educationalist Dr.Swati Popat Vats and NTD co-founders Nidhi Mishra and Archana Mohan. Watch here
As the ‘Stories For Inclusion’ Monthlong Festival for children and young adults to embrace neurodiversity came to an end, we, the founders paused to reflect on what we learnt from this unique, first ever initiative to ‘listen to different stories, make new friends’. Read here
This festival is all about celebrating strengths. From spotlighting talents of our neurodiverse participatns to the digital spotlights created by neurodiverse graphic design and video editing students at Ishanya India Foundation to participation gifts handcrafted by Will At Work.
How to identify and build on strengths?
But as a parent, have you often wondered, how to identify your child’s strength, support them, know the boundary between joyful engagement and competitive pressure. Listen to this meaninful podcast curated by parent advocate and our Inclusion Champion Shwetha Srivathsan as she chats with parents on building strengths in running, craftwork, music, coping with life events, taking to new hobbies and more
Focusing on Strengths-
Published books by neurodiverse authors
At the recently held India Inclusion Summit, Mughda spoke of the role of caregivers, why their well being matters and released a caregiver journal for special-needs parents named I See You. I Get You. Listen to Mugdha's moving talk here https://youtu.be/8JcvOf12fX0.
Mugdha launched her book 'I See You. I Get You.- A caregiver's handbook for every special-needs parent'
https://bookosmia.com/shop/books/i-see-you-i-get-you-the-self-care-guide-for-special-needs-parents/
Our co-founder Mugdha Kalra is a BBC 100 Women'21 as one of the top 100 most inspiring and influential women in the world for the year 2021, alongside the likes of Malala Yousafzai, philanthropist and businesswoman Melinda French Gates and acclaimed Nigerian author and feminist icon Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This recognition comes for her work as an inclusion activist and her work at ‘Not That Different’.
Two enterprising mothers of young adults with disabilities had a dream to create a space where other young adults could be empowered and lead independent, equipped lives. Based out of Pune, they created “Youngistan” in December 2019, a platform which encapsulates the energy and dynamism of youth. Club Youngistan, a virtual space, evolved out of the pandemic in July 2020. Through its sessions and workshops, it has now expanded into a diverse group of young learners and facilitators nurturing and learning together.
We are so excited to engage neurodivergent students from IIF for creating the digital spotlights for our Fest. In the past few years, IIF has established itself as a renowned name in the disability sector by providing a wide range of services catering to individuals with different diagnoses and varied age groups. Their team of therapists and educators is dedicated to leveraging the potential of each individual who comes to us & is constantly working towards finding new & innovative ways to engage them & help them become the best versions of themselves.
We are proud of the young neurodivergent students at Will At Work who have handcrafted goodies that will be sent out as participation gifts in the Inclusion Fest. An empowering platform that enables ‘diverse’ hands experience handwork as a therapeutic vocation, with their willing engagement and loving community support.
We are grateful to Ek Step foundation to enable us to create digital public goods from and for the inclusion fest which spans creating resources for inclusive school book and for neurodiverse creator community.
