Ep 41: Moms Gopika Kapoor & Moneisha Gandhi: On Buddy Up, a friendship app for people with disabilities

When Mumbai-based Gopika Kapoor and Moneisha Gandhi, moms of Vir Kapoor and Mihaan Dhall, witnessed how life-changing friendship proved to be for their neurodivergent young sons, they decided to launch Buddy Up – A Friendship App for People with Disabilities & their Caregivers. While Vir, who is on the autism spectrum, is quiet, Mihaan, who has Down Syndrome, loves to talk non-stop, the two clicked and now “buddy up” for concerts, sleepovers, board games and dance parties. Listen in as Gopika and Moneisha talk about their app and how friendship is the best therapy.

While Gopika is a neurodiversity consultant and an author, who also wrote the book Beyond the Blue: Love, Life & Autism on her parenting experience, Moneisha formerly ran an embroidery export company and volunteers at the Ummeed Parent Resource Centre. Both are advocates of diversity and inclusion.

Download the app on Google Play
Download on the Mac App Store
Follow Buddy Up on Instagram
Follow Buddy Up on YouTube
Follow Buddy Up on Facebook

Timestamps
00:54 Gopika’s introduction and meeting Moneisha
05:08 Moneisha’s introduction, finding friends for Mihaan
15:13 An uncomplicated friendship
16:16 Navigating siblings
21:17 About Buddy Up
24:50 Support for newly diagnosed parents of neurodivergent kids
26:00 Gopika’s book and five stages of grief after diagnosis
29:30 Spreading the word about Buddy Up
32:40 Learnings from neurodivergent focus groups
37:00 How the Buddy Up app works
43:00 How parents can make social connections
46:15 Moneisha on meeting the parent of an older Down Syndrome child
48:00 Stimming and what it means
56:25 Moneisha’s son’s experience in an inclusive school

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