Our Story

The Silent Struggles

Imagine yourself in a situation where you are not able to convey your basic needs to those around you. 

What if you are not able to let others know that you are hungry or need to use the toilet?

Picture yourself unable to understand even simple things about your own family.

How would you feel if social interactions were so confusing that you cannot even recognize the difference between a good touch and a bad touch?

 

For many children with developmental disorders, this is their everyday reality.  It was once a part of my reality too.

Silence to Advocacy

I’m Vibin Varghese. And I’ve walked a path that many may not understand. I don’t just speak for myself;

I stand as the voice of 200 million children around the world who face the struggles of having to live with a developmental disorder.

As a child, my struggle with speech and misarticulation issues made simple tasks feel like climbing mountains. People thought I was stubborn, but the truth was, I just couldn’t express myself like others. It took me nine different schools to finish my education – nine schools where I felt like an outsider, where teachers didn’t get me, and I was labelled as disobedient.

It took many years to accurately diagnose my issues and start the therapies that would change my life. Three surgeries and countless hours of therapy sessions later, my condition began to improve.

Today, I can express myself freely, a luxury I once only dreamed of. Not only have I waded through my challenging childhood, now I am myself the parent of a young boy.

As an adult, I’ve often wondered what I could do to support children facing challenges like mine. These children depend on others for the most basic needs, struggling to communicate their desires and fears. There is an invisible barrier that isolates them from the rest of the world, leaving them vulnerable and unheard all their lives. So, I set out to create something that could be a beacon of hope for all these children.

Metanoa: Transforming life!

Looking back, I’ve always believed my life would have been much better with an early diagnosis. I remember that many long therapy sessions, mostly relying on trial and error methods, didn’t bring significant improvements. To deepen my understanding, I reached out to parents, clinics, and therapists who work with children facing developmental disorders. Drawing from these conversations and my own personal experience, I realised that there are three crucial elements that can significantly improve the lives of these children.  They were
  1. Early Detection
  2. Access to the right therapies
  3. Progress Evaluation and Consistent follow-up.

There was also a need to simplify the processes in clinics, freeing up valuable time that could be dedicated to other children in need. Slowly these formative ideas began to materialise into the making of a technological platform. My own background in technology helped. Thus Metanoa was born.

 

We began building Metanoa around the three pillars –

  1. Early Detection
  2. Evidence-Based Therapy and Support
  3. Continued care.
Our progress wasn’t smooth. Creating a tech solution in a niche area wasn’t easy, but my personal journey had taught me resilience. In 2019, we embarked on a journey to develop and innovate Metanoa, our software. After months of dedicated effort, we successfully created the program. Currently, we’ve made a positive impact on the lives of nearly 30,000 children. Looking ahead, our aspiration is to reach one million children over the next three years.  

Life of possibilities!

I’m not sharing my story for sympathy or praise. I’m sharing it because I know there are millions of kids out there who need someone to stand for them. Metanoa isn’t just my journey; it’s theirs too. It’s a chance for every child to be heard, to be understood, and to live a life full of possibilities. 

 

Together, we can change the narrative for these children, offering them a fair chance to live their lives and express themselves, just like I’m doing right now.