Whats New In This Month

When Friends Reach Out

August 1st is celebrated as Friendship Day internationally.Making friends is a beautiful process which takes time to build. Over a period of time it blooms. One can share one's pleasures & pains, trials & triumphs with each other. Reaching out to a friend to share one's innermost feelings is the best therapy. C.S. Lewis has said "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart & can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

Reach Out, an organisation founded by Rekha Balgi has initiated a unique Friendship & Buddy programme "Gift a Smile" to mark their Silver Jubilee year. In this programme they Reached out to & paired up 25 special kids and adults with 25 buddies ranging from working professionals to students pairs where a Buddy calls up and establishes a connection, rapport & makes a weekly call & Wow.... how it manages to create a smile on the face of that special buddy. It is amazing to know how this whole journey started and the friendships blossomed. Here is a guide to witness their journey & to create similar buddy pairs.
Click here

50 Million Steps for Epilepsy

50 million people worldwide are affected by epilepsy according to WHO/OMS official figures.For many people living with epilepsy, the stigma attached to the disease is more difficult to deal with than the disease itself.

To raise awareness and to raise vital funds for epilepsy organisations across the world, the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) is asking people to join together to walk 50 million steps in the lead up to International Epilepsy Day – one for each person in the world who has epilepsy – as part of the ‘50 Million Steps for Epilepsy’ challenge.Do Join Us in this Campaign.

Click on this link to know more-
https://www.ibe-epilepsy.org/50millionsteps/

The ‘Marbelous’ Jelle Bakker

A few weeks back, I stumbled upon an exciting video and couldn’t take my eyes off it till it was finished. It was a race of assorted marbles competing against one another in a muddy race track with live commentary. It was fascinating. As I watched those marbles skate, skip, glide and zoom through elaborately planned tracks with bends, rings and various obstacles, I dug deeper.

The video belonged to a Netherland based YouTube channel called ‘Jelle’s Marble Run’ created by Jelle Bakker and his brother Dion Bakker. As of today his YouTube channel has nearly 8 lakhs subscribers and over 63 million views. Bakker brothers make marbles run races in a variety of custom-made terrains. Their marbles might be battling off in a self-contained plastic contraption or rocky paths. Aside from the laws dictated by physics, these races are completely random and that’s what makes them so much fun!

According to Jelle’s website, growing up, his biggest hobby was constructing marble machines. As a child he saved broken parts of other toys, hunted for track parts in toy stores and thrift shops. Jelle put tremendous amount of effort and energy into creating complex race tracks. At the age of 18, he began constructing more intricate room-sized marble machines. In 2009, he set the Guiness record for the longest marble run. He has constructed marble racing contraptions of amusement park sizes.

Jelle did not stop there. Along with his brother he has created a number of race events – The Marble League (formerly The MarbleLympics), Marbula One, Marble Rally and Hubelino Tournament. These tournaments are spoof versions of world famous sport events as their names suggest and feature individual marbles as well as marble teams. So if you are watching one of these marble races and inadvertently start rooting for Red Number 3, Dragon’s Egg or Thunderbolts, you would understand what Jelle has created.

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That’s not all about the marble master. I was spellbound when I learnt that Jelle has Autism Spectrum Disorder.

As I see parents and teachers struggling with academics and career prospects of children on the autism spectrum, Jelle’s example is a breath of fresh air. He kept up with his childhood passion and it has culminated into something that brings thousands of people joy. On his Website, Jelle says, “It is fascinating to see how the marbles make their way through the project. Especially, the noise that the marbles make when they roll over different types of tracks and collide with objects such as bells, gongs, woodblocks etc.”

I often (like to) think that, Jelle probably could do this because of his ASD. His different neurological pathways might have helped him to think outside the box and see everyday aspects in a different light. People with ASD develop certain obsessions, repetitive behaviour and routine as a source of enjoyment or a way of coping with everyday life. Seeing marbles rolling through his race tracks could have been a part of his routine to stay calm. The reason or predisposition could be different or none. The take away here is how a person with a condition which limits his communication with others is now at the centre of a huge sport community. The very thing which most people perceive as a disability is the same thing which can be attributed to his success.

Jelle Bakker’s accomplishment is a testament of what people with ASD are capable of. The 2020 Olympics may be post pone or cancelled, but the marble race is still on.

Amruta Veer
Amruta Veer is a Remedial Teacher. She works as a freelance remedial teacher in a mainstream school and provides remedial services at ChildRaise Centre.
She holds inclusive workshops for kids with special needs and others at ChildRaise Centre. She also writes for www.childraise.com

It is indeed a pleasure to know these individuals who have given a new meaning and perspective to parenting.

The Uplifting Story Of Veda And Her Mom “We adopted a baby with Down syndrome because there was no reason not to

Use blogs to clear the fog in your mind!

Just yesterday I received a new blog post link from my friend Jasmina Khanna who is an eminent disability activist. The topic was Sympathy Vs Empathy. She has a beautifully written blog that throws light on various issues concerning disability especially people's attitudes towards disability.
Jasmina's blog provided me with a fresh insight on many issues and I thought to myself that there are many confusing concepts in our mind regarding disability and these blogs can be a great source of learning, clearing our concepts, and how we can benefit from them.

What is a Blog?

Blogs and Blogging is a term we hear it often nowadays. What is it and how a parent with a child with special needs can use blogs to clear the fog in his mind about various issues concerning his child. The definition of a blog says that 'A blog is an online diary or journal on a website. The content of a blog typically includes text, pictures, videos, animated GIFs and scans. They usually pertain to a certain topic. Blogs are a great source of creating awareness on certain topics, interacting and connecting with like-minded people. Here I am giving a link to Jasmina's blog jasmina khanna
We will shortly be making a list of blogs of disability activists, parents of special needs children, Special Educators sharing their experiences and resources.