RUN 4 EVER

This Blog is by my son Aditya Jogania  

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

In this story, I am going to cover my life with disability so far. This can be treated as a small autobiography. To start with, I’ve Dyspraxia which is a developmental disorder affecting motor skills and coordination. Still today, at the age of 17, I can’t do many things that a normal 17- year-old can do. If I go into details, my disorder hampers my life in various ways, for example, I cannot tie my shoelaces, I’m super clumsy, not able to cross roads, don’t have bladder control, faded hand-eye coordination, and have trouble with ADL. There are many more chores that I cannot perform. I can go on and on!

Since the day I was born my struggles started as I did not achieve my milestones on time. In 2009, I came to Pune and I started my therapies. My therapies included Occupational Therapy, play therapy, and other therapies. When I joined school, I struggled a lot in my studies too. I was unable to write notes and my mother was constantly in touch with my teachers and classmates for my notes. Though I wasn’t bullied, I was not able to make friends. I still can’t.  That made it worse. I was lonely.

Even though I had some serious issues, I constantly tried to ward them off and went on to win third place in Pune for my first Abacus competition. My confidence soared. I started joining extracurricular classes to give me enough exposure. Not only this, my society’s Ganpati celebrations were never without my keyboard performance. I have participated in 3 competitions so far and have won medals. Along with my dyspraxia, I also suffer from a genetic disorder called Thallesamia, for which I have to take regular blood transfusions every 3 weeks. My mom’s and my constant efforts went on until I was in the 10 grade. In 9 grade I had to quit formal schooling to join the NIOS board since the school was afraid that I might be the one who will stop them from getting a cent percent result. I don’t blame the school, since I really struggled with academics despite my above-average IQ. Academics were still a problem for me with my failing attention, slow writing, and not being able to plan my activities. And of course, the punishment of being a clumsy kid who bangs, stumbles, spills, and flaps is still all-pervasive.

Life is still far from perfect. I know there are a lot of potholes that lie ahead. But I am ready, with my parents backing me in everything I do. I like to forget about my worries by diving deep into activities I love. I love cars and love to research them. I have a YouTube channel where I talk about cars and the automobile market. I write blogs too. I write about my experiences and my everyday life. I sing in the bathroom and outside it.  I play loads of video games too… I joined the arts stream in a junior college for my 11 grade. I know I will still be that clumsy guy who will be different from the whole classroom. I know I will be that odd guy in the street. But let’s see how it goes. May be better than it was a few years ago? Not sure, though I wouldn’t trade my life for anyone else.

Lastly, I would like to thank Jyotsna aunty who introduced mum to Nayi Disha and Nidhi maam, for giving me an opportunity to pen about myself. I want to just say, that it is not at all easy, but with all of us together, we can climb a step one at a time!

Regards,
Aditya Jogania

Read more on Looking Beyond The Autism Label