"Build with purpose. Never give up. It's the tough situations that make you stronger."
That philosophy has carried Amritha K from a Gold Medalist engineering graduate to the founder of India's first QABA-certified center for children with Autism.
Originally from Madurai, Tamil Nadu, and based in Bangalore since 2012, Amritha K built a strong technical foundation early on, graduating as a Gold Medalist in Computer Science Engineering from Anna University Chennai.
She had a promising IT career ahead of her. Then, while volunteering at an NGO in Bangalore, she met a 3-year-old boy with Autism, an encounter that would completely redirect her path.
It wasn't just his story that moved her. It was the sheer scale of the problem, the prevalence of Autism in India, and the near-total lack of support systems for these children and their families. In 2013, Amritha quit her IT career and founded Stepping Stones Center with just six clinicians, determined to build something the system hadn't.
The road wasn't easy. One of her earliest and hardest battles was watching schools flatly deny admission to children with Autism, again and again. Instead of accepting it, she turned that rejection into resolve, building an Inclusive Education program from scratch.
After facing setback after setback, she finally partnered with a CBSE school in Bangalore in 2015, enabling the admission of two children with Autism and supported within a mainstream classroom. That single partnership has since grown into collaborations with 12 schools across Bangalore, supporting 320+ children with special needs today.
India lacked enough certified professionals trained in Autism. So Amritha built the pathway herself. Stepping Stones Center became India’s first QABA-certified center offering coursework toward international ABA certification—helping create a much-needed pool of trained professionals across the country.
Her biggest lesson through it all: collaboration is the way forward. No meaningful journey is sailed alone.
Amritha doesn't point to one influence. Instead, she draws her deepest admiration from the parents, especially the mothers, of children with special needs, for the hope and resilience they carry every single day.
Her vision is clear: to build an Inclusive India by transforming education for children with Autism and raising changemakers for neurodiversity.
In 2025, she won the Unlock Her Future Prize (South Asia), receiving a $50K grant, and Britannia’s HER STRAT UP national award with ₹10 lakhs, alongside certifications from Oxford University and Goldman Sachs’ 10K Women Entrepreneurs program.
Her message: there is beauty in imperfection, especially in taking that first bold, imperfect step.
Originally from Madurai, Tamil Nadu, and based in Bangalore since 2012, Amritha K built a strong technical foundation early on, graduating as a Gold Medalist in Computer Science Engineering from Anna University Chennai.
She had a promising IT career ahead of her. Then, while volunteering at an NGO in Bangalore, she met a 3-year-old boy with Autism, an encounter that would completely redirect her path.
It wasn't just his story that moved her. It was the sheer scale of the problem, the prevalence of Autism in India, and the near-total lack of support systems for these children and their families. In 2013, Amritha quit her IT career and founded Stepping Stones Center with just six clinicians, determined to build something the system hadn't.
The road wasn't easy. One of her earliest and hardest battles was watching schools flatly deny admission to children with Autism, again and again. Instead of accepting it, she turned that rejection into resolve, building an Inclusive Education program from scratch.
After facing setback after setback, she finally partnered with a CBSE school in Bangalore in 2015, enabling the admission of two children with Autism and supported within a mainstream classroom. That single partnership has since grown into collaborations with 12 schools across Bangalore, supporting 320+ children with special needs today.
India lacked enough certified professionals trained in Autism. So Amritha built the pathway herself. Stepping Stones Center became India’s first QABA-certified center offering coursework toward international ABA certification—helping create a much-needed pool of trained professionals across the country.
Her biggest lesson through it all: collaboration is the way forward. No meaningful journey is sailed alone.
Amritha doesn't point to one influence. Instead, she draws her deepest admiration from the parents, especially the mothers, of children with special needs, for the hope and resilience they carry every single day.
Her vision is clear: to build an Inclusive India by transforming education for children with Autism and raising changemakers for neurodiversity.
In 2025, she won the Unlock Her Future Prize (South Asia), receiving a $50K grant, and Britannia’s HER STRAT UP national award with ₹10 lakhs, alongside certifications from Oxford University and Goldman Sachs’ 10K Women Entrepreneurs program.
Her message: there is beauty in imperfection, especially in taking that first bold, imperfect step.
This story was told by Amritha K and published with their permission by the What's Your Story editorial team.
