Doctors realised when she was just 3 months old that Arya had cerebral palsy and impaired mobility. Her parents, father Rajeev and mother Pushpaja, became her constant support. Arya has now completed her postgraduate degree with high marks from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram. “But some parents created problems, saying their children might also fall ill. We had to leave the school with our daughter,” her father Rajeev recalls. Her mother, who was an engineer with the PWD, would come at noon, take care of everything Arya needed and then leave,” Rajeev recalls.