Keerthana Shenoy’s non-verbal autistic son is competing at the Special Olympics in the UAE.
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00:00My name is Kirtana. This is my son Sujith. I am extremely proud to share the news that Sujith will be representing UAE in RollerSkate Skater competition for the upcoming Special Olympics.
00:14Yes Sujith? Sujith? Yes Sir.
00:17Life has been very normal from the beginning, like my schooling, my degree, my college, marriage and then Sujith.
00:25But around the age of one and half years, my father who was a pediatrician, he advised us to go to a psychologist to get him assessed.
00:35And then he got diagnosed with autism at the age of one year and ten months.
00:41It was a big or something new for us. We didn't know what exactly is autism.
00:49We were actually in a denial stage. But of course we were doing all the therapies, whichever was advised by the doctors.
00:58Then I did a course in special education diploma course in autism from KPA MRC, that is Karnataka Parents Association for Mentally Retarded Citizens.
01:11At that point I was doing the course mainly to understand his conditions, how to help him out, how to make him more normal.
01:20Sujith was a very active boy from a young age. He walked at the age of seven months, around eight months he was running around.
01:27So he had a lot of energy in him. He was like a full active boy.
01:33So around the age of five years I put him in a skating school in Bangalore.
01:38And he learned it very fast. Within one month he was able to skate.
01:43In 2007 we moved to Dubai.
01:51He got admission in a regular school in Sharjah, where he did his schooling for six years.
01:57I was going with him as a shadow in the same school.
02:01And then at around the age of 14, since he was not picking up academics, we thought it's the right time for him to join a special needs school.
02:10In the meanwhile I got my ABA training done.
02:15And later I got my RBT, that is Registered Behaviour Technician certification done.
02:23Life is much easier in Dubai. There are a lot of special needs, there are a lot of activities for our kids.
02:30Dubai was a very good decision for us.
02:33There are actually a lot of activities happening in Dubai as well as in Sharjah.
02:38I take Sujit for all those activities.
02:41Sujit goes for baseball, tennis, even surfing, horse riding, and art and craft activities, football, everywhere I take him.
02:50Currently I am doing an ABA course. It's a board certified assistant behaviour analyst course.
02:55This course will help me to work with other kids also, to improve their lives also who are in this autism spectrum disorder.
03:06And then I am very happy to be in this part of the world UAE.
03:13Government is providing with so much facilities for these children.
03:19Example like you get Salik, you get free parking, and these kids are not labelled as special needs or disabled.
03:29They are considered as determined ones. It is really encouraging.
03:34We encourage these kids to come out in public. Also there is a lot of awareness in this part of the world.
03:42People are aware of autism or any other disabilities that we have.
03:48And I am very thankful to the Special Olympics team.
03:53And I am extremely thankful to the whole UAE Special Olympics team who has recognized Sujit's talent in skating and then including him in this.
04:04Nothing would have been possible without my husband Sunil Shena's support.
04:09He has been there for us throughout Sujit's journey.
04:14Right from supporting us, even buying a car for me so that I can take Sujit to all these places.