Can only a female be considered a ¡®mom¡¯??A lot of people would disagree.?A Pune resident, Aditya Tiwari, adopted a child with Down Syndrome in 2016. He will be felicitated as the ¡®World¡¯s Best Mommy¡¯, along with many other women from across the country, at Wempower - an event in Bengaluru to mark International Women¡¯s Day on March 8. He will also be a part of a panel discussion at the event.
Talking to The Indian Express, Aditya said, ¡°I am delighted to be honored as one of ¡®world¡¯s best mommies¡¯ and I am looking forward to sharing my experience of bringing up a child with special needs.¡± He adopted his son as a single parent.?
Aditya adopted the then? 22-month-old Avinish, quit his job as a software engineer and started counselling, guiding and motivating parents with special children across the country, according to the report.?
The father-son duo have been to 22 states and where they held meetings, workshops, conferences and talks at nearly 400 locations. ¡°We are connected to 10,000 parents around the world. We were also invited by the United Nations to participate in a conference and throw light on ways to bring up children with intellectual disabilities,¡± he said.?
After adopting Avnish, Aditya realised that that there was no separate category for intellectually-disabled children in India, nor did the government give them disability certificates. Aditya sent an online petition to the government and it created a separate category for such children and now issues disability certificates as well,.?
Other mothers who will be felicitated at the Women¡¯s day event include, Jeeja Ghosh Nag, Supriya Jain and Dr Aloma Lobo.?