Anurag left his corporate job to follow his passion to help autisitc people lead a dignified life. With his determination, he has been able to spread his Autism Education Outreach Program to many cities.

Anurag is the secretary of the Approach Autism Society. Approach Autism Society is a self-help-group of parents of children with neurological disabilities. It was started in 2011, when parents of some autistic children came together with a common objective to do something for such kids.

Anurag is an engineer by profession. He was working in the corporate sector. When he was transferred to Jaipur, he realised that parents of autistic children there were not getting the required help and guidance and that’s when he conceived Approach Autism Society. In 2015, he got transferred to Mumbai, but he kept his family in Jaipur only, as they were running the self-help-group.

Anurag managed both his job and the SHG parallely. He also raised funds for his SHG. In 2019, he quit his corporate job to follow his passion full-time to serve the Autistic people and came to Jaipur. Anurag says that it was not an easy decision to quit his job as he had his family to look after, but he followed his passion anyway and never regretted it.

Anurag shares that during Covid, the society had to suffer financially as it was incurring some losses. To counter that he organised fundraising activities. He even created a virtual platform wherein he, with the help of trained educators, provided training to the parents of autistic children as to how they should deal with and treat their children. Anurag says that his society is providing the Autism Education Outreach Programme in different cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai etc. It also finds its footprints overseas in Dubai and Nepal.

Anurag says that challenges are a part of everyone’s life journey. He too faced many challenges. But he always believed in what he was doing and it kept him going.

Anurag shares that globally one out of every fifty four newborns is an autistic kid. And more than five lac people suffer from Autism annually. He says that to cater to the education of such people, more than one lac educators are needed. He is trying to bridge that gap with the help of the digital platform that he created. He is providing Autisitic Education Outreach Programme to rural areas of the country as well.

Anurag doesn’t consider a single person as his role model. He takes inspiration from many people and even the book that he reads. But he says that one of his seniors at his previous organisation motivated him to follow his passion to help such autistic people.

Anurag thinks that some people are born leaders and some become leaders as they grow in life. He says that a leader is someone who takes people along. Being the Secretary of the society, he takes into consideration everyone’s opinion whilst making decisions and this is what his leadership style is.

Anurag likes to keep himself occupied with his work. But whenever he gets free time, he likes to invest in improving his knowledge base. He also likes to play badminton and play with his son.

Anurag appreciates the fact the young generation today is much more aware. They want to work for society and give something back to it. He advises them to follow their passions and do whatever they want to do now only instead of waiting for the right time. Besides, he also advises that if you want to do something just for the namesake then you will not be able to survive in the long run. You need to have a strong will and driving force to do what you want to do.

For Anurag, success doesn’t mean reaching the destination, rather it’s about enjoying the journey.