About Rana Akkad Atassi
Rana Akkad Atassi is a mother of 3 and the founder of Jad's Inclusion School. had a full life and career shift to become a Social Entrepreneur with a mission to change her community for a cause close to her heart. With her middle son Jad being diagnosed with autism at the age of 2, Rana single-handedly took upon herself the mission to create a platform for special needs inclusion.
Rana started by founding Autism in Dubai, which is a support portal and guide for parents with children of the spectrum. She took the effort a step further and planned several fundraisers to sponsor the therapy of children with autism for those struggling families, and became a real champion for the cause in the region.
A multiple award winner of which the 2018 Female Entrepreneur of the year award at The Women in Lead Economic Forum, 2019 Time Out Kids Outstanding Contribution Award… A diplomat’s daughter, a citizen of the world who is fluent in Arabic, English, and Spanish, Rana is able to bring her global perspective to everything she does and hopes to grow her dream to the world. Rana will not stop until everyone in the community welcomes all determined children, and give them the chance to have the safe, secure, and independent future they deserve.
About this episode
In this episode we talk to Rana about her difficult journey, struggles and how she overcame obstacle after obstacle to ensure that her son Jad had an excellent life. We talk about all her accomplishments with the Autism communities here in the UAE and how her school has come so far to become a safe haven for all children on the spectrum. For a heartwarming and educating story in honour of Autism Awareness Month, please tune in!
Quotes
"I was absolutely ignorant about what autism was at the start. Unfortunately till now there’s isn’t that much education about autism".
"The hard part I had is basically educating parents or other family members and the community on how to deal with children on the spectrum, they’re very smart, they’re still human at the end of the day".
"I just went on the computer and I just started sharing my stories, I started saying my fears, my guilt, what I thought was right or wrong and was just trying to seek to see, was I the only one this was happening to?"
"When you wanna have a baby or you wanna have a child, you don’t have the option of picking up a catalogue and choosing the descriptions, you know. You love that child no matter what and you’re there to support the child no matter what, if he regress or not, if he’s special or not, if he’s gifted or not".
We have beautiful kids that have to have exactly the same like everyone else and don’t listen. Just listen to your instinct, don’t listen to whoever tells you they still have the same and they are even way more intelligent than most neurotypical kids
"I do believe that Jad was an angel. He was sent here for a reason. He was an angel sent from God on a mission. Once it was accomplished, he’s just going back to where he belong"
Useful Links
Website: http://jadsinclusion.com/trips/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rana-akkad-atassi-64855bb2/?originalSubdomain=ae
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jadsinclusion/
The Matrix Green Pill Podcast: https://thematrixgreenpill.com/
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