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se people to the experiences of children with special needs so that they understand and see things from a lens of empathy and understanding," says Jeya.

A Tinker Champ in the making

Born in Delhi, Jeya moved to Bengaluru at the age of five. An introvert with not many friends, she spent most of her time surrounded by books. "Nothing like a good read. I have always found myself drawn to the world of books," says the teen whose favourite author is Sudha Murty. But it was in Grade 7 that she first discovered Atal Innovation Mission. "It began with a message that landed on my WhatsApp school group about a Tinkerpreneur encouraging students to teach their peers about entrepreneurship. This got me intrigued," says Jeya, who began exploring the field and soon prepared a masterclass on digital skills. "Teaching students about basic PowerPoint or Excel was the beginning of my journey as a Tinker Champ." Now a Class 10 student, she create resources like boot camps, YouTube lives, and workshops to teach students from Class 6 to 12 on digital skills, innovation, entrepreneurship, and business through peer mentoring. Till now, they have impacted over 5000 students.

Supporting children with intellectual disabilities

Over the years as a Tinker Champ, she noticed a gap: the lack of attention to intellectually challenged children. "Instead of just focussing on the resources for the intellectually challenged children, the bigger problem is the stigma around them." It's something that she witnessed firsthand in her apartment. "Such children are often mocked and made fun of. From the bird's eye view, the bigger issue is the stigma and not the resources they lack," she adds. This motivated her to start Khwahish with a mission to support children with intellectual disabilities by addressing the societal stigma and providing them with necessary resources.

"I found lack of education to be the root cause as many people have no idea about intellectual disabilities, which often leads to insensitivity," explains Jeya. She began by creating a website to share her mission and vision, and started reaching out to specialists in the field. That's when she found Dr Anamika Hui, an audiologist and speech-language pathologist who works with children with intellectual disabilities, and confirmed that stigma is a huge issue. Meanwhile, Dr Anamika also cautioned her that it's a close-knit community that isn't open to the idea of collaboration. "She told me even if I intend to empower them, I will face some resistance. I took her advice seriously and started connecting with more special educators and special schools in Bengaluru to build trust," informs Jeya.

SDG 10

While interacting with one such school - Buddhi Special School - the teenager had an epiphany that to shift the perceptions of children with intellectual disabilities from sympathy to empowerment, she needed to display their talents well and "make people know what they have to offer". Inspired, she conducted an art activity and collected their artworks for a virtual reality art exhibition. "Seeing people's surprise at the children's talent was eye-opening and confirmed that there was genuine interest, which led me to conduct my first awareness session with the help of Dr Anamika." By showcasing the talents of children with intellectual disabilities, Jeya aims to create an inclusive world. "My focus is on SDG 10 - reducing inequalities by creating an inclusive world, which can be achieved by sensitising people and changing their view on other people, who might be a little different from them."

Soon interest grew, and she began organising more awareness campaigns in residential areas as well as schools. Through Khwahish, she wants to support special schools and children and work on providing accessible learning resources and guides for parents and guardians. In just a few months, she has already impacted over 120 students. "I often ask children to picture a child with an intellectual disability, and they usually imagine someone helpless or vulnerable. This is the perception I want to change," she emphasises.

A long journey

Her journey hasn't been easy as the 15-year-old had to face a lot of criticism initially with many doubting her qualifications to work with or raise awareness about children with special needs. "I was told that working with specially-abled children or even spreading awareness about them required a certification. And I had no authority to speak on them. But I stood my ground and told them that one needed passion and the drive to conduct awareness campaigns more than certifications." Many adults dismissed her effort as a mere project due to her age and she even found many students indifferent to the cause. "Since special schools and regular schools are different, not many meet children with special needs daily. Hence, it's hard for them to understand them or know how to behave or react." She often uses the example of braces to make children understand the concept. "I tell them that if they had never seen braces before, they might mock a friend wearing them. But it’s just something normal. The same logic applies to children with special needs. However, changing perceptions takes time," adds Jeya, who believes early intervention is crucial as young minds are easy to influence as they are still far away from rigid beliefs.

Despite the challenges, Jeya has found support from a few people who have become her collaborators. "They believed in me and the cause and were always ready to help," she says. However, she acknowledges that changing perceptions is a long journey. A crucial moment in her mission was her visit to Buddhi Special School in Bengaluru, where an interaction with the coordinator, Mrs Rekha, deeply impacted her. "She told me that these kids have no idea how much stigma they will face the moment they step out into the real world. Most kids are mocked and bullied. Some kids, who need special care, are separated from their parents and stay in the premises all the time since their parents don't have the training or the skillset to take care of them. That's why special schools become important." Realising the challenges that these children might face in the real world, Jeya wants to step in and pull the plug on this by creating as much awareness so that these kids feel equally safe in the outside world. "I want the awareness impact to go into thousands for neurotypical people, especially children so that the world becomes more inclusive."

Jeya, who calls herself a bibliophile, calls awareness a two-way learning process. "When you are spreading awareness, you are in turn learning a lot in the process," says the teenager. She began Khwahish with a passion for working for children with intellectual disabilities and is on a mission to make a more inclusive world. "It's important to go with the flow, and have a growth mindset where you do not quit."

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[caption id="attachment_13340" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Aditya Dubey receiving the Diana Award[/caption]

Rebel with a cause

As the movement gained momentum, Aditya decided to soldier on. In his quest to ban single-use plastic, the teen changemaker launched several campaigns including Kill Plastic and Revive Yamuna in 2019. To ensure smooth running, he even sold some of his belongings to fund them. "I did not want to ask for money, so I sold my golf kit to fund the Plant A Million Trees initiative. Later for another campaign, I sold my PlayStation as well," smiles Aditya, who schooled at Modern School, Barakhamba Road.

For the Kill Plastic campaign, Aditya approached Amazon and Walmart-Flipkart to stop using single-use plastic packaging material. However, when the companies refused to accept his request, he filed a petition before the National Green Tribunal against them. "I was young so a bit nervous. But, I was never scared to do the right thing. I think I got that from my grandmother. She taught me that one should never be afraid to raise their voice. Unfortunately, I lost her a few years ago. But. her teachings will always guide me," says the teen changemaker.

[caption id="attachment_13341" align="aligncenter" width="556"] Aditya during a campaign[/caption]

A big win for the teen changemaker was when his petition forced the giants to stop using single-use plastic, reducing plastic waste generation in India by thousands of tonnes each year. Another campaign by him against Pet bottling companies, resulted in heavy fines, running into millions of dollars, being imposed on Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Himalaya, Parle Agro, and Bisleri.

Beyond the rewards

Ever since he began working to save the environment, Aditya has received several awards and recognitions. While he is happy that his work is truly making an impact, the son of two accomplished Supreme Court lawyers - Anurag and Anu Dubey - feels that such recognitions help spread awareness. "I feel that if we continue to turn a blind eye to climate change, then we all will suffer due to extreme weather conditions and a lack of clean water or air. For me, the propagation of this idea is more important than the awards. Recognition is a tool that enables me to convince citizens, organisations, corporates, and political leaders to support me in my campaigns," says the teen changemaker who unwinds on Formula 1 when he gets time.

No time to waste

Upset that the governments are not taking adequate measures to eradicate pollution, Aditya is doing everything in his power to initiate change. The youngster, in collaboration with the Energy and Resources Institute, is working on a direct air capture technology that absorbs carbon dioxide from ambient air. If scaled up, it can be an important weapon in humanity's fight against climate change. “I have been working on this technology called CarbonX since October 2021. We have been able to finalise the design, and are now in the process of creating a user prototype and commencing trials," shares Aditya, whose only dream right now is to set up a million-tonne carbon dioxide extraction plant in India by the end of this year. Set to study BS in computer science in 2022, he hopes to leave behind an able team to continue his good work.

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