About our Writers
Aryav Dube
Lead Editor | CS + Linguistics @ UCLA
Aryav Dube is a college school student from Fremont, California, with a firsthand passion for disability advocacy rooted in lived experience. His journey began when a friend invited him to spend lunch in his school's special education classroom, where witnessing students like Mario and Jada push through daily physical challenges with extraordinary determination completely reshaped his perspective on ability, resilience, and inclusion. That single visit moved him to start a student club dedicated to building genuine friendships and understanding between the special education community and the broader student body. Through SpecialThinkers, Aryav channels that same drive — translating personal encounters into honest, humanizing blogs that bridge the gap between the disability community and those still learning to see them.
Trisha Siddeshwara
Editor | Senior @ Washington High
Trisha Siddeshwara is a Rising Senior at Washington High School in Fremont, California, who is driven to explore ways in which technology can support and sustain neural growth in both neurotypical and neurodivergent youth. Her curiosity for these fields motivates her to look for modern technological advancements that make a child's ability to adjust to their environment feasible.
Her interest in neurodivergency began in 5th grade when she volunteered to read books in the Special ED classroom. She met a student the same age as her yet barred by ASD, but shared the same interest for the book they were reading. Working with that student she learned that she had to adapt her reading style to utilize visual representation for her peers to comprehend the text. These patterns in learning were further evoked in her experience at a summer writing internship, where she saw students of all abilities, some with ADHD, a student with a hearing aid, and a student who was recently injured use their creativity to seamlessly integrate these characteristics as a positive upliftment.
Beyond the classroom, Trisha has been active in student leadership and creative representation, serving as the Editor-in-Chief of her high school yearbook to bring awareness to unique voices and competing at the international level with DECA. To further extend her impact, Trisha focuses on bridging the gap between technological advancements in modern society, to include underrepresented youth and further help these Special Thinkers adjust to their educational and/or workplace environment for their optimal productivity, helping every student regardless of their learning styles build confidence and be capable of their unique definition of success.
Nastassia Panaro
Army Veteran | M.S. ABA, B.A. Psychology
Nastassia Panaro is a two-time OIF Army Veteran from Austin, Texas. She holds a Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis and works as a Registered Behavior Technician and Student Analyst while pursuing certification as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst. Her passion was sparked by her own children when she noticed they communicated and learned a bit differently. Aiming to provide gentle, parent-equitable, loving, and teacher-supportive strategies alongside patient approaches, she sought to reduce harmful behaviors and increase her children's communication, learning capacity, and self-regulation and self-advocacy.
Throughout her nearly nine-year journey in the field, Nastassia has gained extensive experience across a wide range of settings, including clinical settings, in-home care, schools, daycares, and community environments. She has been blessed to collaborate with diverse professionals and stakeholders—including speech-language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists, developmental pediatricians, doctors, dentists, and teachers—bringing better-educated insight into modern ABA. She champions a modern, neurodivergent-affirming and trauma-informed approach that centers on cultural responsiveness, strength-based practices, and the absolute importance of learner assent.
Nastassia has also developed specialized strategies for coaching neurodivergent learners in essential executive functioning skills and created custom parent-coaching curricula to translate clinical concepts into accessible, everyday, real-world practices. Her work emphasizes deep empathy, acknowledging the very real challenge of caregiver burnout and validating the critical need for practical resources, self-advocacy, and the permission to simply feel tired.
When she's not busy navigating the joys of special education advocacy or deciphering the mysteries of modern child-rearing, Nastassia can often be found trying to solve the equally complex riddle of adulting, fully validating adults in embracing the occasional day when pajamas and coffee serve as the ultimate life hack.
As someone who navigates her own neurodivergent journey with chronic illness and disabilities, Nastassia brings a deep, firsthand empathy to her work, giving her a unique personal connection to the challenges and triumphs of the community she serves.
