Lakshmi Rao Sankar is a registered S2C practitioner and has been a member of the Practitioner Leadership Cadre since I-ASC’s inception. She has brought leadership to an international community engaged in communication access for the neurodiverse. She has led professional S2C training cohorts, and provided S2C practitioners-in-training with mentorship and guidance on core S2C principles and organization building. She is a regular presenter at webinars and has been a featured repeat presenter at Motormorphosis. Lakshmi is also a co-facilitator for the I-ASC Spellers & Allies Advocacy Network, providing partnership to spellers in their movement to gain autonomy, access and agency.

In addition to her work at I-ASC, Lakshmi is Executive Director of CrimsonRise, an organization co-founded by spellers and their allies, providing S2C services to nonspeakers based in NYC. CrimsonRise is also an internship site for I-ASC, and many registered S2C practitioners on the team are clinical mentors to practitioners-in-training.

Lakshmi is also a partner and cofounder of Teamqore, where she consults with nonprofits in the areas of governance, strategic planning and development. She has also served, in leadership capacities, on the boards of Sakhi For South Asian Women, The Eden II Programs, the Foundation for the Advancement of Autistic Persons and On Your Mark.

Lakshmi has an MA in Sociology and an MBA in Human Resource Management. She loves to hike and travel with her family, and is an avid gardener. Her most favorite things to do include teaching curriculum-based
studies to spellers, and reading historical romances.

Lakshmi is mom to Tejas Rao Sankar, a nonspeaker serving on I-ASC’s Nonspeaking Leadership Council, advocate for autistics like himself, and a cofounder of CrimsonRise.