Pranav Kumar Rajgopal lives on the Autism Spectrum and works as a Business Analyst. Read his interview with PatientsEngage and his wish for #AutismAwareness. Don't miss his feedback on how to interact with autistic adults at work.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am Pranav Kumar R born in Trichy Tamil Nadu and grew up in Bangalore. I was diagnosed at the age of 6 years. I did my education in Normal School, did my PUC in Normal PU College, did my graduation and Post-Graduation in normal college. I received all the special help from my mom who has been a support through out my life.
The biggest challenge in being in a "regular school" I faced - the teachers would scold me because I was a little bit slow learner, compared to the average class. This made matters worse and I used to get afraid of them. This in turn led to further slowing down the learning process. I took longer time to grasp some of the concepts.
Where do you work?
I work in Cisco, a Multinational Company. My office is located in Kadubeesanahalli after Marathahalli bridge in Bangalore. My nature of job is Business Analyst in Cisco In the Partner ops team sending the emails to the vendors and receiving the response.
Where do you live?
I am living with my family in Bangalore which is far away from my office. I live with my mom and sister.
What is your strength?
My strength is good in remembering of dates and events in history and every one’s date of birth.
Good in remembering Mythology facts and remembering about the bographies of great leaders.
What are your challenges?
My challenges are fear about new work
What do you like in free time?
I would like to read the books of specially abled people and doing the research about Autism and would like to browse about the famous personalities like Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and Vishwanathan Anand International Chess Player. Listening to Classical Music and film songs which I really like a lot. In the free time I use to go to gym and playing badminton with my friends.
Telling about my relationship with friends and colleagues
I have many friends in my office who always like me and gives me a good advice.
What do you wish for or look forward to?
I look forward to go out with my friends for Adventure Camps. I went with the Autism colleagues and looking forward to go with my best friends.
The theme for the year is that autism candidates has the hidden talents and please encourage and motivate them. They are facing lot of challenges in their life. When it comes to the work some candidates person with autism takes time to understand the work process. When giving the feedback to any person with Autism give them in polite manner and never criticize in front of public. The challenges which they face will take some time in overcoming. Autism Awareness should be spread across the schools and colleges of India.
