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Kamlesh Kumar Dhiman

Kamlesh Kumar Dhiman

Founder and Managing Trustee,Charu Foundation

In 2004, when Kamlesh Kumar Dhiman and his wife welcomed their daughter Charu, they began a lifelong journey of learning, acceptance, and empowerment. Discovering that Charu has down syndrome opened their eyes to the beauty and potential of neurodiversity and also to the systemic barriers that limit access, opportunity, and visibility for persons with disabilities in many parts of India.

Rather than accepting those barriers as inevitable, Kamlesh and his wife built bridges. They connected with other families, began sharing experiences, and started small community networks for mutual learning and emotional support. By 2011, this effort evolved into an association of parents from Public Sector Units (PSUs) that provided counselling, parent training, and inclusion workshops.

When the family relocated to Kullu in 2014, Kamlesh saw how adults with disabilities in hilly and rural regions often lacked access to education, meaningful work, and social participation. In response, he founded the Charu Foundation in 2016, named lovingly after his daughter with the mission of creating opportunities that honour autonomy, choice, and self-reliance.

At the Charu Vocational Centre, over 40 persons with disabilities train regularly, learning trades such as computer literacy, gardening, handicrafts, hospitality, and packaging. More than 150 individuals have already been trained, and several now work within the foundation’s sheltered workshop,  a supportive space designed to ensure comfort, safety, and independence.

The foundation’s approach is community-rooted and family-inclusive. Many parents train alongside their children, learning to build home-based enterprises in alignment with local livelihoods like agriculture and handicrafts. This not only strengthens economic independence but also deepens family bonds and social acceptance.

Beyond training, Charu Foundation hosts parent workshops, health and wellbeing camps, sports events, and awareness celebrations all of which promote the message that inclusion isn’t charity, it’s community growth. Today, over 60 families in Kullu are actively connected to the foundation, and the local perception of disability has shifted from pity to partnership, and from marginalisation to belonging.

Kamlesh continues to be guided by one belief: every person, regardless of ability, deserves to live with purpose, dignity, and joy. His vision of inclusion is practical, compassionate, and sustainable; a model rooted in empathy, action, and hope.

Connect with Charu Foundation

charu1foundation@gmail.com

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