A decade before Taare Zameen Par opened a window of awareness on kids with dyslexia, D Chandrashekar in Chennai was busy on the job.

At a time when one's perception of disabilities was strictly narrowed to the way one looked, a quiet movement was already gaining traction in the city.

Once a concerned parent, the journey of the IIT-Madras alumnus started from home when traditional educational systems failed his own child, who was dyslexic, and he discovered there was a serious lack of support to help children like him. This prompted him to fill a void for specialised learning support, driving him to establish the Madras Dyslexia Association (MDA) way back in 1992.

From a humble start, the association has now blossomed into a movement to create a better world for children with dyslexia.

Under Chandrashekar's sustained leadership, MDA has become a force to be reckoned with in the educational space.

Over 30 years, the organisation has impacted the lives of thousands of children and provided solace to their parents.

The organisation today runs both part-time and full-time remediation centres, creates a pool of special educators for children with dyslexia, has set up over 200 resource rooms in schools across the country to help teachers identify dyslexia in kids and help them deal with it, provides parental support, and also innovates kits and techniques to make learning easier for these children.

As the 77-year-old shares his journey, he recollects the challenging initial years after his son was diagnosed with dyslexia.

"My wife and I did a thorough search for a support group or organisation that can help our son. My wife also underwent remediation training with an organisation, but they did not specialise in dyslexia. We later took support from some international educators, and that is when I decided to do something in this regard to help parents like me who cannot afford them."

The first step, Chandrashekar says, was to create awareness about the disability, as people hardly knew what dyslexia was.

"Parents were in self-denial mode about their kids' condition. Hence, sensitising them and encouraging them to identify dyslexia were a bigger challenge. From organising awareness walks to visiting schools to holding sessions with teachers and parents and media interactions, we have done it all. Being an entrepreneur was difficult, as it required me to manage time for the cause. But my dedicated team, with their relentless hard work, have made this vision possible, and today we have managed to create over 25,000 special educators who specialise in teaching kids with dyslexia," he says.

Age is no bar for Chandrashekar as he continues to work dedicatedly towards his vision of creating a "dyslexia-sensitive society" capable of recognising and supporting neurological differences with multisensory teaching strategies. Recently, MDA launched 'Count on Me', a comprehensive math toolkit to make mathematics easier for kids with dyslexia. The organisation has also tied up with IIT Madras to develop an AI app that will have questions with which parents can diagnose their kids for dyslexia.

Chandrashekar's journey serves as a testament to the transformative impact that compassion and persistence can have in the face of adversity. From a parent navigating uncertainty to a leader shaping support systems for children with dyslexia, his unwavering commitment has changed both lives and mindsets.

As the Madras Dyslexia Association continues to thrive, Chandrashekar's legacy endures in every child as they are given the chance to learn differently, and their families are empowered by the hope that their child, regardless of their learning challenges, will never be left behind.

(The story is written by Binita Jaiswal and edited by Divya Ramkumar)