Autism is my superpower: Pranav Bakshi, India’s first model with Autism.
The young talent, who hails from Delhi was diagnosed with Autism when he was two years old.
Pranav had a traumatic birth with many health complications.
Although things had seemingly gotten better by the time he was two years old, his speech, instead of developing further, had begun to regress. Pranav started repeating what others would say.
Pranav’s parents systematically worked on the issues he was facing using effective tools like exposure to a variety of settings and social stories (individualised short stories that depict a social situation a child affected by autism may encounter) that offer perspectives of others in a social environment and also help arrive at an appropriate response.
In spite of the challenges that autism poses and with the immense support from his mother and sister, he has built a modelling career on his merit. He isn’t looking for handouts and has a clear career graph in his mind.
He has worked with major brands like the United Colours of Benetton and US POLO.
Despite 40 per cent disability, echolalia and anxiety, Pranav is soaring high in the world of fashion and aspires to model for international brands.
