This year 2020 has been a particularly interesting one with one #Crisis after the other. Just as #COVID19 continues to terrorize the hearts and minds of everyone across the world, here, at home in California, we are faced with other #Naturaldisaster phenomena - #Heatwaves, #Thunderstorms, #Lightning that went on for hours on end and now, the #Wildfires !! Everyone is seeking refuge indoors, further isolation is rampant especially for our #developmentallydifferent individuals!
At PRAGNYA, we doubled our connections experiences to at least meet 4 to 5 times a week, so everyone in the family - neurodiverse and their Neurotypical allies stay in touch and connected. From #VirtualSocials, to #ConnectCalls, to #SkillsSessions to #MYPACK (my Pragnya Ally Circle of Kindness) physically distancing activities to #MusicWorkshops, to #ParentConnects - we took the #connecting to a whole new level. Even those children like my child, who does NOT engage on a screen based platform, or even facetime calls or video calls for anything else, has somehow managed to find her sweet spot in these sessions. What was it that was getting her to participate in these sessions, and her neurodiverse peers, who otherwise have a hard time connecting online with someone else ? The answer became evident this past week.
The #Lightning, the #thunderstorms, the #heatwave prompted so many #powercuts all over the #BayArea. As if #COVID19 had not isolated our #developmentallydifferent #individuals enough, the #powercuts and #internetoutages affected the only #virtualconnection that they had with the world...
This past Sunday, our #skillssession lead, and PRAGNYA Board Member, Mrs Panda, lost power in her house for over 10 hours. She called me frantically on Sunday early morning asking if she should record a video and send it to the children, or if we should cancel session. Since the children thrive on the live interaction, we sent a message canceling #sessions explaining the situation about her inability to #connect to conduct the #session for our #kids ( #Neurotypical and #neurodiverse ). Minutes after I sent that message - I started hearing ping after ping on my #Whatsapp. when I didn’t answer, I got a phonecall from our #Ally, Nica urging us not to cancel session. ”They would be looking forward to the session, right, Ms Kavita ? ”, she pressed on since her #neurodiversepeers would be looking forward to it just as she was all week. I was unsure since I had just sent a message canceling and if other Allies would be able to login at such short notice to which she immediately followed through rallying her fellow allies via group messages and they organized themselves to conduct session. Within 10 minutes these allies got together to log on and conduct the #session with Nica leading a ”Space” drawing.
Our #SkillsLead, Mrs Panda was sorely missed, almost every child (neurodiverse) asked for her, but also followed along and continued to complete their art ... even those who had been having a rough week with all the changes with #distancelearning for 8 hours a day, #excessiveheat and so on like mine managed to complete her art.
Every #Ally stepped up for their #friends ... and every #Neurodiversechild logged on, stayed on, chatted on ... proving that No matter what ... that
“Love will always find a way” !
That is #PRAGNYA (Awakening) - when the #Allies on their own realized that their friends would be waiting... that our #PRAGNYAKids realized that their #Allies were stepping up ... and when everyone #connected at a time even technology was disconnecting !
That—->the #Compassion, the #Acceptance, #Love, the #PRAGNYA (#Mindfulness) is what my child and every neurodiverse peer of hers was connecting to, something we take so much for granted, the #HumanConnection is what our children treasure the most - all of them regardless of their neurotype. It did not matter that a session was canceled, what mattered to them was not to cancel the connection! It is amazing what Love and Togetherness can do, it is magical to see how beautiful children truly are, when they are taught to tap into their inner spirit, and purity of their soul as they are in our Ally Support Program.
My child had been having a very rough week, with 7 hour #virtuallearning not working for her, and her sensory issues on full blast, leading into unthinkable behavioral escalations some leading into full blown crisis situations. Her angst came out in her drawing too, with her angst popping up again, but ev she completed it, not once but twice, expressed herself through her art and I said a prayer of thanks and Gratitude to all the beautiful people who made this happen! I found a reason to smile through the tears and take comfort in the knowledge that there are going to be some wonderful allies and human beings going out into the world like Nica, Michelle, Semira, Shreya, Nikhil, Amrit, and so many other allies. Thank you God ! thank you Universe !
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