Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to Thriving on the Spectrum, the podcast dedicated to empowering and supporting young adults with autism on their journey towards a fulfilling life.
Speaker: I'm your host, Arpata Mohan, and together we'll explore invaluable insights, expert advice, and personal stories that shed light on the unique opportunities and challenges young adults with autism encounter.
Speaker: So if you're a parent, caregiver, friend or ally, join us as we explore possibilities to help young adults with autism thrive.
Speaker: Today, as part of our series of episodes on long term planning for codependent living among autistic adults, we are joined by the team at CLAPS.
Speaker: First, we have Chandrasekhar Rao and Sanjay Rao Bantwal.
Speaker: They are parent leaders and the force behind CLAPS.
Speaker: We also have Arvind, he's a special citizen.
Speaker: He likes typing and supports his father in maintaining the library at CLAPS.
Speaker: Hi, Sanjay, Chandra Shekhar and Arvind.
Speaker: We are extremely excited to have you on our episode today.
Speaker: Hi, Arvind.
Speaker: I've heard a lot about CLAPS, but I think it would be great to hear it from you.
Speaker: So, Chandra Shekhar, why don't you tell us a little bit more about CLAPS and the reason why you all got together?
Speaker: More so, why did you start this venture?
Speaker: Sure, Arvind.
Speaker: As a parent,
Speaker: I have a 27-year-old boy having autism.
Speaker: He is non-verbal.
Speaker: And we detected he having autism when I was overseas.
Speaker: I was in China.
Speaker: I was flying high, working overseas on expatriate status.
Speaker: When I came to know that I have only two options left with me, either I continue my life there and earn money or I return immediately to India and get him exposed only to two languages and give him early intervention.
Speaker: That's how my journey started on autism.
Speaker: With a great heart, heavy heart, I returned to India.
Speaker: And we started taking him through various therapies.
Speaker: But as you know, there are many people who were not aware of it.
Speaker: The awareness was not there back then.
Speaker: I'm talking of 2000.
Speaker: So people are telling you, take this therapy, that therapy, the Ayurvedic therapy.
Speaker: And we were running pillar to post, taking my son everywhere.
Speaker: We didn't want to leave any stones unturned.
Speaker: So we went on going to do all these kind of therapies and going to various worshipping places.
Speaker: But we did not have a stable mind.
Speaker: So we didn't know what to do.
Speaker: But since he was a boy and he was a young boy, we were also happy and there were neighbors and friends, relatives, everybody, he's a small boy, don't worry about it.
Speaker: It's like a passing cloud.
Speaker: You don't have to worry about this boy.
Speaker: But something, fear slowly started coming into us that what will happen because the exposure here was not there on autism.
Speaker: And finally, after when he was about eight years old, we happened to get a special school admission for him after one year.
Speaker: First, when we went, they didn't take him because he was very hyperactive running about here and there.
Speaker: So the principal told you, please come after one year, let him cool down a bit.
Speaker: Let him at least sit for half an hour.
Speaker: That should be good enough.
Speaker: Then after next year, we went there and we got him admitted.
Speaker: Then we started meeting other parents and everyone had the same story like us.
Speaker: And as the boy started growing old, then when he became into his teens, that's when the problem became even more severe.
Speaker: That he had the, as an youngster, he had issues of his own and we didn't know how to, you know, handle those situations.
Speaker: And in school, they said, after 16, 17, it's very difficult for us to take care of your son.
Speaker: Generally, after 16, 17, for any person with autism or a special child,
Speaker: So it's better you take him into some vocational training or we ourselves in school will start some vocational center for him.
Speaker: So the school started a vocational center and he was going to the vocational center.
Speaker: But there was very limited choice.
Speaker: Then again, we thought what will happen to the boy after us.
Speaker: Then this went on and because slowly the friends, relatives, everyone were trying to only say hi and they were trying to visit, but not much of encouragement.
Speaker: Then awareness of autism started improving in India and people started knowing what autism is.
Speaker: And that's when, you know, there was encouragement.
Speaker: But whatever was set and done, end of the day, when we used to come home and sit, we were wondering what will happen to our son after us.
Speaker: So this went on in many number of parents.
Speaker: And we thought enough is enough because the boy was getting around 21 years then.
Speaker: We thought we should do something.
Speaker: That's how CLAPS started forming with three core team persons who purchased a land about eight acres.
Speaker: And we also went there.
Speaker: We saw the presentations.
Speaker: There was no pushing anybody to join CLAPS.
Speaker: It was just an open welcome telling that if you want, this is what we are going to do.
Speaker: And we heard that this CLAPS has been started only for children like us and is limited to only about 48, 50 parents.
Speaker: The expansion of CLAPS is Community Living Association for Parents of Special Citizens.
Speaker: The name itself was catchy and the logo of the CLAPS was very interesting.
Speaker: And the top of it, there was something solution given for after us, which we really liked.
Speaker: So basically the CLAPS agenda was the child will be taken care after the parents.
Speaker: So, there will be an where parents also can live together with the child in one campus and we can all take care as parents.
Speaker: It will be mostly a parent-driven society.
Speaker: In the present world, the safety is a big issue for children and for teenage boys and girls.
Speaker: Taking them out for some routines or if you want to keep vocational training, it becomes expensive and also we don't know how to approach it in a more scientific way and systematic way.
Speaker: So, CLAPS, what we parents got together is.
Speaker: Let's run this institution as a parents-driven institution.
Speaker: And all of us are having nearly the same kind of issues, maybe different levels of autism for boys or girls.
Speaker: But you know, autism, each child is unique.
Speaker: So then we started building the collapse brick by brick.
Speaker: And there we are now.
Speaker: After five years of inception, 2018, the idea was born after purchasing the land.
Speaker: And here we are sitting in 2023 after one year of operations.
Speaker: That's really awesome.
Speaker: And I love the whole idea behind it and the vision and the story.
Speaker: It's really, really nice to like hear the rationale and how you came to it.
Speaker: I mean, now that you've identified this whole idea, you've decided that you wanted to go ahead with, you know, creating this community living for parents and for their children.
Speaker: Sanjay, could you kind of take us through the steps of forming this community?
Speaker: Yeah, it is a big story Arpita.
Speaker: The story is very long, but I want to cut it short.
Speaker: See first actually the founders, you know, three of us joined together in a special institution.
Speaker: And since we all had the same idea, you know, that we have to find a solution for our children after our lives.
Speaker: we joined together and then we started forming group around us, a WhatsApp group.
Speaker: So we had collected a lot of parents into this and then we started creating identities for the
Speaker: mission that we are going to do.
Speaker: By identities, I mean the organization that we want this whole project to go.
Speaker: So we created the identities and association and a LLP company.
Speaker: And then we moved forward looking for a land.
Speaker: So we would have seen about 200 sites before finalizing on the land that we selected just now.
Speaker: And we wanted to know from the parents who are around us, what is the infrastructure they need in a land as well as inside the land?
Speaker: So where do they need the land and what do they need inside the land?
Speaker: So this was our next question to all the parents around us and we made a list, a wish list of all these things.
Speaker: Then we started moving forward going to every special institution, popular special institution giving presentations of what we are having and what we want to do and what we will approximately give because we were not sure exactly what we can give because all the parents have to contribute their ideas to really give the full idea.
Speaker: And this presentation led to lot of parents joining
Speaker: and then started the process of construction and then started, parents started moving in, I mean coming into this collapse idea gradually.
Speaker: So the construction was going on and parents were joining.
Speaker: It's not that actually all 48 parents that we have right now
Speaker: are not at the beginning.
Speaker: It was a gradual flow.
Speaker: The construction was moving and the parents were joining.
Speaker: It is like that.
Speaker: And of course, construction is over and today it's one year since we have occupied this complex and living here and now collapse is a reality.
Speaker: That's really beautiful and the fact that you looked at so many like
Speaker: venues just to sort of like figure it out in the plots it looks like a lot of effort has been put into it it's so much detail so much thought that was given to it so i would imagine there were also maybe some challenges the roadblocks that you could have faced as well as you were going through all of this so switching over to you um chandra sheker were there like a lot of challenges that you saw and if you did like how did you work towards addressing the challenges along the way
Speaker: Yes, sir, Pitha.
Speaker: We had a lot of challenges.
Speaker: Like Sanjay had said, we had the land with us.
Speaker: We had the parents coming in, 50% of them joining.
Speaker: But we didn't know how to go about this.
Speaker: So the core team, Sanjay and Elango and Guru, Guru Muthi, they gave a free hand to me.
Speaker: They said, okay, since you are a civil engineer, you form a subcommittee with the parents who are available and you decide what is the layouts we need.
Speaker: You can go and visit institutions.
Speaker: You can take the feedback from other parents, your own experience.
Speaker: What exactly do we need?
Speaker: And how do we put this layout?
Speaker: That's how I formed a subcommittee about five, six parents.
Speaker: We all got together.
Speaker: And we started brainstorming on what do we need?
Speaker: Are parents going to stay with the kids or they're going to be separately?
Speaker: Because this was a concept first time in the world.
Speaker: We don't have any such community living anywhere where we could go and see the community and understand and take the best part from that.
Speaker: So what we did is we started listing out what we exactly need for our children and how do we do the vocational training, how do we place them, what kind of rooms they need, what kind of rooms, houses do we need.
Speaker: We started looking into various things and we went to a couple of institutions to see the residential areas.
Speaker: But one of them was only the children staying as a hostel.
Speaker: all facilities provided including CCTV, open area.
Speaker: We learned what are the best part we can take from that and what are things where we can improve.
Speaker: We went to another kind of institution where the parents were staying with the children, but at the same time, there was no separate block for the children.
Speaker: There was no separate activities for children and it was also under construction.
Speaker: When we came back and we discussed among ourselves based on the feedback what we got from various parents on the subcommittee on the layouts,
Speaker: We decided that we will have villas for us to start with, for the parents.
Speaker: Then one of the core team members, Alango, said, let's not use the land for parents because we have already lived our lives.
Speaker: The more open space we give for the children,
Speaker: It will be of greater benefit for the children, for the movement and for the improvement because we are looking at after us.
Speaker: After us means that children should be comfortable.
Speaker: So let's not go for villas.
Speaker: Let's go for just small two-bedroom apartments.
Speaker: So what we did is we again redesigned and we took out the villas instead of occupying about two acres or eight acres of land.
Speaker: We just try to occupy one acre.
Speaker: wherein we went for blocks for us, two-bedroom apartments.
Speaker: For the 48 parents, we designed some simple two-bedroom apartments in four blocks, having four apartments in each floor.
Speaker: That gives in each apartment 12 into four, 48 flats for the parents at one end of the premises.
Speaker: What we did is we planned for the children at the other end of the premises
Speaker: So it's a separate block in itself.
Speaker: And we had a small feeling among ourselves.
Speaker: Our children are never going to go to university.
Speaker: So why don't we design the layout for the children?
Speaker: The block looks like a university from a distance.
Speaker: So at least we'll be happy, saving from our residential unit that they are studying or staying in the university.
Speaker: So we went for a design of a big building where it has a ground floor, first floor and second floor.
Speaker: And what we decided is we will not keep the children on the special citizens on the ground floor for various reasons because in case there is a flood, we have to evacuate the special citizens.
Speaker: It will be very difficult for them to understand and for us also to evacuate, number one.
Speaker: Number two is the control of the children will be very difficult if they suddenly run out in the night or in the morning.
Speaker: You may not be aware of it, though we plan to have CCTVs.
Speaker: And third is being an open area with a lot of bushes and trees around.
Speaker: We thought that could be some insects or something getting into the house easily.
Speaker: That can be prevented.
Speaker: For these reasons, we decided let's have the first floor and second floor for children.
Speaker: Now for the layout for the children, we thought we'll give them individual rooms, like a house.
Speaker: So, we planned four rooms per flat, which are the four corners of the flat, which will give them excellent ventilation, breeze and into the room.
Speaker: And we decided we will give a very comfortable room for each boy or girl, which will be about 12 by 12 feet.
Speaker: and attached bathroom and a small balcony for them and a cupboard.
Speaker: And these four rooms open up into a central hall wherein the caregiver can stay in the hall and view the children.
Speaker: And the central hall will have the facilities of a TV and sofa where the children can come out and relax.
Speaker: And also if the children have to go out, they need to go to the hall and then leave the flat.
Speaker: So in that way, there will be control
Speaker: for the children not going out without any permission from the caregiver.
Speaker: This was the basic idea.
Speaker: We created big white corridors so that when they move about, when they rush, they don't have to worry about slipping or falling off.
Speaker: There will also be good ventilation and view for the children standing in the corridor.
Speaker: Instead of leaving the ground floor as it is, what we decided is we will have them as vocational trainings without any internal.
Speaker: Basically, ground floor is a print of the first floor and second floor.
Speaker: But we removed all the internal walls or we didn't create any internal walls so that we can have huge rooms.
Speaker: So, there are seven buildings.
Speaker: We got seven huge halls with us.
Speaker: So, we kept five for vocational training.
Speaker: One for the medical centre and one for rooms where we can accommodate some other guests or any coming.
Speaker: That way, teachers can stay there.
Speaker: For vocational training, what we did is because our children are very smart, we didn't want them to get a feeling that they come from first floor and second floor and just walk into vocational training.
Speaker: So, we kept the openings of the vocational training at the back side.
Speaker: So, what the children have to do is they have to come down by the lift or by staircase, go round about and then enter the VOC, what we call as vocational training.
Speaker: We call the residential living for the children as RL, which is residential living.
Speaker: And where parents are staying, we called as FDU, family dwelling units.
Speaker: We have a medical center and we kept the common facilities in the center of the community, which is a dining hall or a canteen with an attached kitchen.
Speaker: We have a dormitory where the cooks and other people who want to stay can stay there.
Speaker: We have got CCTVs everywhere, all around, including the rooms of the children.
Speaker: So in that way, the child gets a privacy and we have a CCTV center where parents, if they want to see that child with the caregiver, they can also go there and see it.
Speaker: And we don't kept any hard and fast rule that child has to stay there because our intention is
Speaker: the life after us.
Speaker: So we need to give them the skills to acquire for them to live independently after us.
Speaker: So that's what we're teaching them.
Speaker: We're not kept any hard and fast.
Speaker: Sometimes some children accept staying in the residential living alone with the caregiver.
Speaker: Some children do not accept
Speaker: So there are combinations.
Speaker: Some children are staying with the parents but go for some time and stay in the residential living and then come to the canteen.
Speaker: Some children are staying with the parents in the residential living.
Speaker: Some children are staying with one-to-one.
Speaker: We have a facility either one-to-one caregiver or two children shared with one caregiver and they can stay there.
Speaker: So that's how we designed this, which gives more movement for the children and their health.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: I mean, just, yeah, just listening to this, it sounds like every aspect of it was so well thought out, like every little detail was, you know, considered the factors that you need to think about.
Speaker: I mean, just listening to, I don't think I've ever thought about something this much.
Speaker: So, I mean, it just shows how much effort and, you know, consideration has gone into coming up with claps and really making it what it is today.
Speaker: So that's really, really great to hear.
Speaker: I'm asking you the next question, Sanjay.
Speaker: So, curious to know how you went about with financing this project?
Speaker: Financing, this is a total parent funded project.
Speaker: So there is no funding from government or any other source.
Speaker: So it was a challenge how we ran this project, pumping in finance exactly at every point of this project because the whole project has to be constructed, the land has to be procured.
Speaker: At every point we needed the finance.
Speaker: It was a godsend sequence that as and when money was needed, members started coming in and we started financing it.
Speaker: Now we initially took a small amount of 1 lakh, token of 1 lakh from the initial parents who came in.
Speaker: And then after we wanted to pay for the land, we took some more money.
Speaker: Like that we started collecting in parts.
Speaker: So as the project was moving, we started collecting part by part.
Speaker: And in fact, to speak about the time it took from the date
Speaker: We started talking about this till we got into the community, we can say approximately five years.
Speaker: Maybe we lost a year due to COVID, the progress was very slow, but it took about five years and all the parents made payments in small, small amounts whenever the money was needed.
Speaker: And that is how the whole project came into being.
Speaker: So this is the way it was financed.
Speaker: Okay, wow, that sounds really great that it's all like parent funded.
Speaker: I mean, that's amazing to be where it is as well right now.
Speaker: I mean, speaking, we've spoken everything about the backstory about how it came into fruition.
Speaker: Now that we're here at CLAPS and it's functional, just curious to understand how the residents engaged.
Speaker: Now, by residents, I understand our wonderful special adults who live in the residential living unit.
Speaker: Now, every day is packed with activities.
Speaker: So in the morning, they wake up, they brush their teeth, do their basic needs, take care of their basic needs.
Speaker: And then they go to the canteen, they have a cup of coffee, then walk to the garden or the farm.
Speaker: They do some farming and gardening.
Speaker: They have their breakfast.
Speaker: They take some break, go take a bath.
Speaker: Then they come back to the vocational center at around 9.30, 10 o'clock.
Speaker: They are in the vocational center.
Speaker: They do activities in the vocational center.
Speaker: At around 12, 12.30, they go for lunch, have their lunch, take some rest, and then come back to the vocational center once again.
Speaker: In the evening, actually, they have...
Speaker: generally art, music, recreation, health, you know, physical activities and then around 4.35 they are out and we have a long pathways, corridors are there.
Speaker: They do different playing like, you know, ball games or, you know, cricket or cycling, skating, all these activities go on in the evening.
Speaker: before they go to have their dinner at 7 o'clock.
Speaker: They have the dinner and then one hour they take a wander around, wander about and go to bed early.
Speaker: So this is the schedule for the day and they are filled with activities I should say.
Speaker: They never a moment they are free.
Speaker: Of course no activity is given to them out of pressure.
Speaker: They do it with their willingness.
Speaker: Each one does whatever activity they are capable of and they are willing to do and they are inclined to do.
Speaker: So gradually we take them around all the activities.
Speaker: I really love that point about not necessarily just getting them through all of those activities, but really building that interest.
Speaker: I think that's a common theme we've been seeing to not just force them to do what they need to do, but rather see what they want to do.
Speaker: My follow-up here is could you elaborate a bit more about what kind of vocational activities you do at CLAPS?
Speaker: Inside, there are two types of vocational activities.
Speaker: As I mentioned, the gardening and farming form the outdoor activities.
Speaker: So they pluck dried leaves from trees which are actually growing around and they trim the garden with scissors and then they pluck the weeds from the farm.
Speaker: So we have some vegetable gardens.
Speaker: So weeds keep on growing.
Speaker: So you need to maintain them.
Speaker: So, for one hour, one and a half hours, they keep dividing the place with support of an external vocational center, vocational trainer.
Speaker: And they spend in the morning about one and a half hours in this activity.
Speaker: Now, indoor.
Speaker: After they come inside, they have activities like mat making and then they have some, you know, stole and scarf making and then they have jewelry making.
Speaker: They have some, you know, activities which are like kitchen needs a lot of vegetables for the daily cooking.
Speaker: So they send the vegetables to the vocational center and all the children cut.
Speaker: And once a week actually there is some speciality that mothers do.
Speaker: So like for example one week we have some sandwich being served in the evening.
Speaker: So the children do all the activities required to prepare the sandwich like toasting or cutting the vegetables, making, preparing everything they do.
Speaker: Then it comes for sale and we buy the sandwich from the counter.
Speaker: So these are all we have made to get activities within the campus itself so that they are engaged meaningfully and usefully also.
Speaker: So this is actually indoor vocational center.
Speaker: That sounds really great and thank you for elaborating on that as well.
Speaker: I mean, that gives us a great idea as to what really is done at CLAPS.
Speaker: And yeah, I want to switch over to Arvind now and just get a bit of his thoughts as well as to his experience as a special citizen at Claps.
Speaker: Arvind, what do you like doing at the library?
Speaker: I like watching movies.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Which movies do you like?
Speaker: I like Shole, but it is not running here.
Speaker: That is the big problem.
Speaker: I haven't seen Sholeh, but I'll definitely give it a watch.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: What else do you like to do?
Speaker: What activities do you like?
Speaker: I love dancing.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: What's your favorite song to dance to?
Speaker: My favorite song is Ye Do Siti.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: That's a very nice song.
Speaker: I love that one too.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Where are you living?
Speaker: I'm in Toronto.
Speaker: You are living in...
Speaker: Toronto?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Where is that?
Speaker: In Canada?
Speaker: It is very far away.
Speaker: Yes, very, very far away.
Speaker: I was not going to Canada.
Speaker: I was staying in the US.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Where in the US?
Speaker: Where?
Speaker: New Jersey.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Do you dance at clubs?
Speaker: No, I don't.
Speaker: I didn't get a chance.
Speaker: Okay, that's good.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: So would you like to dance there soon?
Speaker: No, no.
Speaker: The opportunity should come.
Speaker: Then I will dance.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: That sounds good.
Speaker: Do you like being at clubs?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I like living in clubs.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: And what else do you do at clubs?
Speaker: I do dance also.
Speaker: I also have fun activities.
Speaker: What fun activities?
Speaker: Yoga and all.
Speaker: That's nice.
Speaker: Do you like yoga?
Speaker: I like yoga.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: And badminton also.
Speaker: Oh, nice.
Speaker: Do you enjoy badminton?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I like the surroundings in clubs.
Speaker: What surroundings do you like there?
Speaker: I like flowers and plants.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: They are decorated here.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Do you have favorite flowers?
Speaker: Yes, but I don't pluck them at all in the campus.
Speaker: I did campus cleaning.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: And what do you eat in claps at the canteen?
Speaker: I eat vaday.
Speaker: I love vaday.
Speaker: It's a very tasty one.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I like it too.
Speaker: I mean, what else do you like eating there?
Speaker: Bonda.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: All the tasty ones.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Do you have many friends in clubs?
Speaker: I have many friends.
Speaker: Who are your close friends?
Speaker: Krishna and Baloo.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Do you all play badminton together?
Speaker: No, we play cricket.
Speaker: I hit along the ground.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Do you like batting or bowling?
Speaker: Batting.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Do you watch cricket too?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I follow IPL.
Speaker: Who's your favourite IPL team?
Speaker: India.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: I like that.
Speaker: Thank you so much, Arvind.
Speaker: I did.
Speaker: Switching gears here, you have the parents also living here at CLAPS and they may not be staying with them in the RLs, but they do have their FDUs.
Speaker: So curious to know what role do parents play at CLAPS as well?
Speaker: As mentioned before, this is not only a parent funded organization, it is a parent run organization.
Speaker: Amongst the parents, we want to make a feeling to the rest of the parents that there is no institution here.
Speaker: So we don't, there is administration but there is no institution.
Speaker: So we make them feel that there is no institution.
Speaker: It is their own place for the special adults as well as the parents.
Speaker: It took six months to really understand this is the need of the parents that they don't want an institution.
Speaker: They want administration but not institution.
Speaker: Now, what do they do?
Speaker: Like for example, right from the core committee, we are all parents.
Speaker: Executive committee, nine members are there, they are all parents.
Speaker: There are subcommittees, each activity has a subcommittee to decide what to do.
Speaker: They consult, they are all parents.
Speaker: Then finally, when you go to the vocational center, there are about nine to 10 volunteers, parents, women parents volunteering in the vocational center.
Speaker: They come every day, they support, they give ideas, they do so many things.
Speaker: Frequent meetings keep happening and they look for improvement, preparation of the timetable, you know, in every phase.
Speaker: In fact, one parent actually takes care of the library.
Speaker: He does computers, you know, children who are, I mean, especially adults who are interested in computer typing, he manages that part.
Speaker: There is a parent, you know, couple of husband and wife, Mr. Ilungo and Mrs. Ilungo,
Speaker: they take care of the kitchen, total control of the kitchen.
Speaker: So whatever happens in the kitchen, they are, you know, administrating that.
Speaker: So it is a total from the gate to the rear, it is totally parent run.
Speaker: Of course, we have a lot of employees who support us and they are all doing a great amount of work right from the caregivers, the maintenance people,
Speaker: the you know electrician, plumbing, all those people who support us very very nicely that is why we are able to achieve whatever we are doing.
Speaker: That sounds awesome and really love how involved and how engaged the parents are as well in every aspect of CLAPS.
Speaker: It's really beautiful to hear that.
Speaker: I mean I think this brings us towards the end of this episode but before we wind up I wanted to ask if you had any last thoughts that you would like to share?
Speaker: Yes, Arpita, I would like to share one thing.
Speaker: I forgot that the main important point when I told that after us, we have a solution.
Speaker: The solution is we are going to have individual beneficiary trust open for every child here.
Speaker: And we'll have a class association limited to taking care of the children after the parents' demise.
Speaker: So what happens exactly is, say, two parents, after the life of the parents, their child will be left alone in the RL.
Speaker: So the flat will be sold to another new parent, but the condition is it will be sold to another parent who has a special child.
Speaker: So when they move in, their special child would require a room in RL because our child is already there.
Speaker: So we have kept enough of space for expansion of this RL.
Speaker: So flats are only 48 for parents, that is limited to 48, but the RL will keep expanding as and when requirement.
Speaker: I just wanted to add this.
Speaker: Thanks so much for sharing that.
Speaker: And I want to check with you, Sanjay, is there anything else you wanted to add?
Speaker: That's about it.
Speaker: I think we may need the whole day to talk more about the class because it is there in our every breath.
Speaker: But there is a limitation of time for anything.
Speaker: So I think we have covered most of it.
Speaker: No, I love that.
Speaker: And I'm pretty sure everyone would love to hear a lot more about every aspect of CLAPS.
Speaker: And I mean, this was a really interesting conversation and I love all the insights and really the story behind CLAPS and how you've thought about it every step of the way.
Speaker: I'm really excited that it's up and running this year.
Speaker: And yeah, I think my biggest learning in our conversation today was just the amount of planning and intricate details that have been considered to build a different type of model for living arrangements for autistic individuals.
Speaker: Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker: If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform so you never miss an episode filled with inspiration, support, and hope.
Speaker: On our next episode, we will be joined by the team at Cambridge and we'll cover topics related to the preparation for living independently of the family.
Speaker: Until next time, take care, stay positive, and keep thriving.
