“Different, Not Less”: What Gayathri Ananth Taught Me About Truly Seeing Children

“Different, Not Less”: What Gayathri Ananth Taught Me About Truly Seeing Children

When was the last time you looked at someone—really looked—and saw potential, not problems?

Gayathri Ananth, founder of We Nurture Foundation, does this every single day. As a counselling psychologist and an early intervention specialist, she witnessed something deeply troubling: too many children with developmental challenges and too many families lost in confusion. They weren’t receiving the timely guidance they deserved. That moment, she says, became her turning point. “These children need assistance like any other essential service,” she told me—and that’s when We Nurture was born.

But nothing about this path was easy. She began during COVID-19, a time when the world itself was shut down. “There were barely any shops open,” she recalls, “and getting permissions from the municipality was a major hurdle.” Add to that a lack of resources, and you have a founder facing every kind of obstacle. Yet here she is, years later—still present, still fighting.

Her team does more than educate; they listen. But not just with ears—with presence, with patience, with heart. “Each child is different,” she says. “We figure out how to help them overcome their anxiety. But we must be there fully.” She makes sure no child is treated like a diagnosis or a label. They build trust, often without words—because sometimes, words fail, but understanding doesn’t.

She asks a hard truth: Why do we assume a child who can’t communicate easily must be unintelligent? “People misunderstand them,” she tells me. “But I’ve often found that these children are smarter than so-called ‘normal’ ones. They just express differently.” Do you still think intelligence has only one voice?

Every new child brings a new challenge. The team at We Nurture never gets too comfortable. “The problems keep changing,” she says, “so we keep preparing ourselves.” Their approach is personal. They communicate with each child in their own way, and they insist that parents be active participants. “Change,” she emphasizes, “is a two-way street.”

They’ve seen children once diagnosed with ADHD grow into confident, capable individuals—sometimes so much so that people no longer believe there was ever a challenge. But she doesn’t take credit. She said something that stuck with me: “It’s not my job to add to a family’s success story—it’s my job to empower them.”

We often judge people by their ability to speak clearly. But as Gayathri pointed out, “We underestimate or overestimate people based on their speaking skills.” That made me wonder: How many voices have I ignored? How many people have I misjudged just because they didn’t communicate like I do?

When parents tell her that their children love coming to her center, that’s when she knows she's doing something right. “That’s what keeps me going,” she said with a smile that made it clear—this wasn’t just her work. It’s her calling.

Gayathri Ananth’s journey forces us to look in the mirror and ask: Are we including everyone in the story of success? Do we recognize intelligence even when it wears a different face? And most of all, do we nurture or neglect the different? Because, as Gayathri and her team show us every day, being different is not a disadvantage. It’s just a different way of being human.