Hina Kalhoro is a certified life coach who works with families that have neurodivergent and medically complex children. Through her platform, @LifeCoachHina, she aims to raise awareness for the unique challenges faced by these families. With over a decade of experience as a special needs parent herself, Hina has developed a deeper understanding of the struggles faced by caregivers and families. Her platform offers tips on everyday struggles such as medical bills, insurance denials to coping with stress to better support these caregivers.

Hina believes that social media is an effective form of advocacy for her because she has been able to meet people from all over the world. Learning about different cultures and special needs globally has expanded her knowledge of unique issues that are similar between different regions. This has allowed her to empower caregivers and advocate for a larger audience. Hina’s mission goes beyond just coaching, she also does workshops, facilitates support groups, and partners with non-profit organizations to make a bigger impact.

She uses her platform to help break down the stigma surrounding disabilities in the South Asian Community. She explains how South Asian cultures have a stigma that having a child with conditions like ASD or ADHD reflect poor parenting skills, typically of the mother. This stigma often leads to social isolation and denial of diagnoses, which further impacts the well-being of these children. She has firsthand witnessed clients where one parent fully supports their child’s ADHD diagnosis, while the other is hesitant. Her platform helps families recognize that having a child with a disability is not a reflection of parenting skills and that children with disabilities are not “bad”. The role of families and caregivers is significant, which is why it is important to educate, teach, and empower caregivers in this situation. Hina’s emphasis is the power of self-care to alleviate daily stress and reduce burnout, thinking of self-care as a daily vitamin and getting a daily “dose” and she loves to teach how to incorporate self-care into the daily routine of busy caregivers. This is the biggest challenge, most caregivers face in this unique circumstance. Hina’s advocacy for children with disabilities is deeply rooted in her journey and experiences, which not only strengthened her resilience but fueled her passion to create this platform, to give back to the community. 

When asked how to encourage other parents to advocate, she explains that it is important to start small and be true to yourself. She started with a local platform as a special education chairperson in her son’s PTA, being the voice for special needs children on campus. She later expanded her advocacy to a regional platform, becoming a family ambassador for her local children’s hospital to raise funds. Also, being in the city, an inclusion task force to advocate for children with disabilities at a city level. Hina has written many articles about special needs parenting, she shares her experiences to support and educate other parents. Parenting a child with unique challenges is not easy, however, with social support, access to resources, empowerment, and motivation, it can be a smoother ride. 

Hina’s story is a testament to the importance of advocacy, inspiring others to join her in creating a more inclusive society for all children and providing empowerment to caregivers who are under constant stress.