31
The Lens of Empathy: Insights from Inclusive Education
A system’s resilience is often tested not by its technological sophistication but
by its capacity to embrace human variance. Srishti Chhatwal’s extensive back
ground in “inclusive education and special needs learning,” particularly “children
with special needs or neurodiverse learners,” yielded a critical insight that now
anchors her sustainability work. She observed that “every system has to adapt
to individual realities, and we forget that”. This profound realization became the
crucible through which she now views sustainability itself. Her approach funda
mentally challenges conventional, standardized solutions, exposing a core flaw:
systems frequently falter when they demand human adaptation rather than
adapting to the inherent diversity of human experience and capability, whether
that relates to “climate, risk or digital access.” This isn’t merely an ethical consid
eration but a design imperative rooted in the very logic of systemic robustness.