With the aim of creating awareness about ‘learning to un-judge’ someone and the importance of developing empathy to deepen people’s perception of diversity within all aspects of society IEEE SPIT organized an interactive webinar with Mx. Ria Sharma. The event began with Ria starting of with their introduction and explaining the phrase “Meditation of your true self ” which was used during the promotion of this event. They mentioned how they were told that they are a woman from childhood just because their physical appearance and processes were considered as a woman thing. They mentioned how they never felt like a woman and realized that they are gender fluid at the age of twelve. Initially, they felt it dirty because of the improper representation of the LGBTQIA+ community back then. They shared how they faced bullying and discrimination. They told how they talked with themself standing in front of the mirror and understood who they really were. Further, they told they belonged to a privileged family and every male member supported them throughout their journey. Later they mentioned how the LGBTQIA+ community was represented inappropriately in pornographic films and how TEDx was the only platform where they were represented correctly being her reason for being a TEDx speaker. further, they mentioned how they had the worst breakup and took all the confidence they had but later they understood who they were through spirituality and meditation. They understood that life is a pilgrimage through meditation.
The webinar transformed into a very interactive session when the floor was opened for questions and answers, where Mx Ria Sharma answered each and every question beautifully. The session seemed so interesting that the hour-long webinar was further extended more for about forty-five minutes. At the end of the webinar Keshav Thosar, Technical head of IEEE SPIT paid gratitude to all those who took their time out to attend the session, especially Mx Ria Sharma who graced the event and very precisely and beautifully answered all the questions which all attendees have had regarding the queer community and for making the event a huge success.
