Ginny's Planet - The Beginning, The Beyond, & Our changing narrative.

The beginning: Ginny’s Planet began it's journey in June 2019 when two social work professionals, Dr. Dr. Shweta Verma , and Jamal Siddiqui , made a determined effort to find ways for children to learn to accept themselves as a part of diversity. The inspiration behind setting it up was the concern about their child who was born with multiple health conditions. Their core focus has always been on children and for them to accept themselves and others. Ginny's Planet was established as a for-profit social enterprise that aims to build a planet where no one feels alienated and stranded alone!?

The motto of Ginny’s Planet: Ginny's Planet is building a world where each child grows up believing:

I have rights, respect, and choices. I belong here. I am okay. Being different is okay!

We believe that disability is also a part of human diversity. Our workshops and products encourage empathy, respect for human diversity, and a spirit of inquiry. We make products and conduct workshops to ensure that children grow up believing they have rights, choices, respect, and imperfections. We believe that being different is fine and we want to instill the same in everyone.

Major concerns of parents: Being a parent can be stressful as well as an experience of happiness and growth. Nurturing and spending time with a child comes with a mixed set of feelings depending on one's support system as well as health & resources. Some parents face more challenges and hardships in India in the upbringing of their child with a disability or health condition. This is because, they not only have to manage their daily affairs, but they also have to help their child perform daily routine activities or seek health or education services to fulfill a child's learning needs. Furthermore, they may often face very hard challenges to address critical issues of their child, like education, employment, sociability, etc. This is often due to inaccessibility and attitudes.?

Specifics of life-changes and routines may vary depending specific health condition, disability and related support or enitlements from the environment. However, a common thread that binds all parents is the need for safeguards to secure the future of their child.

The lack of information and facilities in this direction often adds to their worries and confusion. Often, parents are hard-pressed to make society accept the child and find a suitable solution to overcome the child’s problems. Socializing needs of all disabled children remain the same. Everyone desires fun and entertainment but not everyone can do activities according to their wish due to various factors.

The need to set up Ginny’s Planet: Ginny's Planet started to bring conversations to children in simple and fun ways. It was important for founders to bring children into these important conversations early on. However, parents and teachers may feel less confident and uncomfortable discussing some issues head-on. Therefore, it was important to create the necessary tools and workshops to equip them. It was necessary to ensure that people understood that Ginny's Planet work is relevant for all children and families, not just to children with disabilities only. Hence, recently we released the song Laadle.

The concept behind Ginny: The idea behind setting up this organization started with curiosity. As we wanted to quickly connect with every child, we started searching for names of interesting characters that can arouse children's interest. Also, we intended to keep a gender-neutral name so that every child connects to it instantaneously. Hence, we decided to keep the name of our organization on a popular Punjabi name for both genders - “Ginny”. Ginny is a doll with 9 fingers. She has a radial club hand. She wears a brace on her right hand to support it. She wears spectacles that help her see the world better. It was made intentionally to introduce the concept of diversity to children in a light and interesting way. We are constantly trying to expand Ginny's horizon with new stories about her and her experiences. Check out the latest storybook of 8-year-old Ginny, "There is Something about Ginny! Kuch Alag si Ginny" HERE.

Vision and Mission: Ginny's Planet was started to promote equality among abled and disabled children. It intends to propagate a belief that there is no difference in the dreams, desires, and emotions of children even if things are done differently by some children owing to any factor. They should not be biased against others and be provided equal opportunities and accessibility. Our intention is to lay the foundation of an inclusive society and this goal can be achieved faster if we can prepare our young generation to accept each person around them, to believe that every child has rights and that they belong.

Empowerment of children: We do this in the following ways -

1. Spreading awareness about ways in which people are different by initiating a conversation about them. The intention is to sensitize society about the problems, needs, desires, and activities of all children including children with disabilities. We create content on empathy, diversity, and inclusion as we feel this is the best way to spread awareness and build an integrated society where everyone performs to their potential without bias. This conversation is being carried out through our newsletter and other social media platforms. We have a presence on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Medium, and LinkedIn, apart from our organization's website.
2. We use creative and innovative products like dolls and coloring books to raise awareness among children in a fun way. We believe that this is an interesting way in which they can not only remain informed but also entertain themselves. Children have questions on various subjects. They are curious by nature and this triggers their mental growth and joy too. But sometimes, this curiosity unknowingly becomes the reason for pain for others. It is important to have these difficult but important conversations with children early on, exposing them to diverse people and their circumstances.
3. We conduct various online and offline workshops and events to sensitize people across ages on disability issues and empathy.
4. We also intend to guide parents of these children and NGOs. We have collaborated with like-minded NGOs in the past and are open to seeking further collaboration from existing and new ones.?
5. We released our first song on 24th June at Theatre Kunzum, New Delhi with Ginny's Sundowner Party. Catch some glimpses of it HERE.

Our song, "Laadle" is a song for all the parents and children who have hopes and aspirations for a beautiful future. Watch our song and enjoy it. It celebrates each one of YOU.

Ways in which you can support our mission:

1. Invite Ginny's Planet for workshops with children or teachers or parents. We hope you find a connection with us, take it forward, and spread it further. Talk about Ginny's Planet with your friends, families, and peers.
2. Join any 1 of our Internship programs - Mom Intern, Sparkles Intern, Summer Intern, Marketing Intern.
3. Buy or gift Ginny doll, her storybooks, or our products and show us some love.
4. Sponsor Ginny's storybooks for children from our partner NGOs.
5. Ginny's story books are a perfect gift for children in your family and friends for reading. These stories speak about Ginny, and her experiences in a fun and relatable manner.
6. You can even recommend these books to the Management in Schools known to you so that they can put these in their school library for students to read. This gesture will also go a big way in spreading awareness and bringing inclusivity.
7. Sponsor spots that have been offered to children from our partner NGOs in the workshop for children. You can check the snapshot of workshops here.

Ginny's Planet Turned 4: 28th June 2023 saw Ginny's Planet turning 4. For the first time, we held a summer workshop for children in an offline mode in Delhi. Earlier, we used to conduct them online. To meet with children and interact with them in person was a fun-filled, exciting experience. While we will continue to have online sessions where we meet people from the comforts of their homes through our flagship event "A Day on Ginny's Planet", we will focus on our offline workshops as well.

Changing Narrative & Evolving with Support: Network of Ginny's Planet founders and team have always brought in support. In our journey, an important part has been played by The School of Social Entrepreneurs & STEPSTARTUPS To strengthen our drive and mission of spreading awareness and making an enabling and inclusive society for all children, we have joined BNI Gurgaon, India ’s Pratham Chapter. This will enable us to grow at a faster pace.

We believe that cooperation and coordination can always deliver wonderful results! We want to build a world where children grow up believing

"I have rights, respect, and choices. I belong here. I am okay. Being Different is Okay!"

Please view and subscribe to Ginny’s Planet YouTube channel: Our channel has a range of informative videos and shorts on empathy, diversity, and inclusion to quench your curiosity! It is like a digital library. EXPLORE HERE.

Join our journey!