School for Autism in Lucknow Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow Cantonment

Sitting in a hairdresser s chair may sound simple, but for a child with autism having a haircut can be painful.

The water spray, the noise, the people, the chair, the mirror, the clippers, the comb in the hair, the hair-dryer, the water, the talking, the mirror. You can imagine how this could be a nightmare for a child on the autism spectrum. They could easily find all of this overwhelming and traumatic to bear.

The scenario was no different for Shivam, aged 25 today, who once would get easily disturbed at the mention of a haircut and would fear the presence of scissors.

As Shivam s elder sister, I remember for so long growing up, Shivam could never get his hair cut in a barbershop. Crowded places like that made him feel uneasy, the sound of scissors made him cringe and when hair fell after being cut, he d shiver like thousands of little pins were stabbing him in the back of his neck. We literally held him and struggled to make him go through that entire ordeal of a haircut.