The untold story of our first Stellar Woman

Think of a world where all the people feel safe, respected, and comfortable in being themselves and expressing all aspects of their identities. Imagine a place where each person shares a sense of belonging with other members. That would be a pleasant place to be, to live.

Our very first bti The Daily Star Stellar Woman, Shamsin Ahmed not only thought about a world like that, but is working tirelessly to make it possible. But how? Let's hear her story;

It was the late '70s when her father moved to Nigeria with her mother and her sister. He was a college teacher back in Nigeria, so he decided to move there with his whole family. After some years, Shamsin was born. The family was living their life peacefully until one day. Shamsin's elder sister fell off the bed and got hurt in the head. The consequence was she started having epilepsy/seizure attacks from time to time.

The whole family came back to Bangladesh in 1997. Shamsin and her three sisters got admitted to schools. But unfortunately, her elder sister's condition was not welcomed by her school. They thought she was mentally unstable and needs treatment, although the only thing she needed was a little care. The school didn't let her study there. There wasn't another option for her, so she had to continue her studies from home. She was all alone with zero friends, which ultimately led her to depression and schizophrenia.

Shamsin saw all of this. Although she was just a kid when all of these started, it did leave a mark on her mind. The scar was deep enough to be there all those years. When her elder sister got diagnosed with schizophrenia, the board of doctors said that the problem was with the society. Just because society couldn't accept her, she became isolated and started having these dark thoughts inside her head which later turned out to be schizophrenia.

Shamsin made a promise to her younger self that as she couldn't help her sister's condition back at that time, she would do something significant to include all the people like her who were abandoned by society. That's when she started the idea of "Identity Inclusion."

Identity Inclusion is a development consulting firm where all of Shamsin's fellow consultants are young women and a woman with a disability. Identity Inclusion is a social business, which provides consulting services to NGOs to be disability inclusive and utilize the revenues from their services to provide psychosocial support to people with mental disabilities.

Shamsin took a bold step in starting her organization, leaving behind a well-paying full-time job and working without institutional support. Despite the challenges that come with being a young woman in charge of an organization focused on stigmatized topics like mental health and disability, she has persevered.

She's not only working towards her vision to make a world to include everyone, she also wants to bring change in the system and the policies regarding the inclusion. She dreams of a society where every person with disability would be able to work like others.

Shamsin believes this recognition will not only help her to expand the work that they do but also set an example to other women to work as consultants in the neglected sector of disability inclusion.

By Stellar Women initiative, building technology & ideas ltd. (bti) and The Daily Star has taken an oath to give her the platform by which she would be able to showcase her work and herself to reach the maximum audience to take a step forward towards her goals.