Our son Rutwik Joshi (age 25 years) is a financially independent adult, living in Pune, Maharashtra, India is working as a technician in the testing department of an electronic instrument manufacturing company since the last seven years.
He is also an accomplished swimmer & athlete and has represented the country in swimming events held in Taiwan, USA and Australia and won medals abroad as well as over hundred medals in various forms of swimming events (from 50 meter pool events to 5 km Open Water Sea swimming competitions across the country. He has also participated & won medals in 800mtrs & 1500mtrs Track & Field Races in INAS Global Games,Australia and successfully completed several 5 Km & 10 Km mini-Marathon Events.
In academics, Rutwik has stood first in his catagory in his school and Junior college in his SSC (10th State Board Exam) with 54% and HSC (12th State Board Exam)with 58%. He achieved this “Without availing the help of exam-paper writers” (a facility available for students with disability) and has performed practicals by himself during practical exams and written all his exam answer papers by himself. The above has helped him confidently deal with the demands of his job where he has acquired required computer literacy related to report generation as well as data entry.
The above achievements were possible because of his years & years of sincerity , dedication, hard work and the desire to excel, in swimming and athletics, school and Jr.College as well as his present job.
Rutwik’s self sufficiency extends to household Chores also. He independently cooks food and regularly treats the family and friends with weekend Brunch for the last 3 years.
He is able to fluently communicate with people in Marathi and has a workable command over English and Hindi.
His daily walk to his office as well as the swimming pool everyday are accompanied by occasional independent commutes using Ola / Uber Taxi services.
We are proud of Rutwik, our Downs Syndrome son, who over the years has become an Independent, confident, skilled ,healthy and happy young man by contributing to the society with his skill sets at his job, in the swimming pool and on the athletics ground to the best of his abilities. His thirst for improvement pushes him to try and do better every day.
We are sure that his story will help other Downs Syndrome kids and their parents to set goals and strive for them to become equally or more successful in various fields in life.
