About Haseeb

Before the age of eight, Haseeb was non-verbal and did not respond when called. His parents struggled to deal with what they thought was eccentric behaviour. He often kept his toy cars at eye level on a table, turning the wheels repeatedly and becoming very distressed if the wheels ever got stuck. In the school he attended then, he always wanted to sit alone and avoided eye contact with everyone. His teachers were supportive, but he struggled to communicate and often had meltdowns.

At the age of 12, he was clinically diagnosed with autism. It was then that his mother enrolled him in special education where he passed his secondary school examinations and eventually secured a scholarship.

Under the guidance of a Special Olympics coach in Pakistan, he was introduced to the world of sports. He also spoke publicly for the first time at a Special Olympics event, when the sports director handed him a microphone to introduce himself to his fellow athletes. He has not looked back since.

In 2013, he was selected to compete in the Special Olympics Asia Pacific Regional Games held in Australia. Just before his trip, his father was diagnosed with cancer and had to remove his vocal cords. Haseeb made a promise to his father to do his best for the Games and returned with two gold medals in cycling, which made his father very proud.

After his victory on the track, he picked up road cycling. When he first started, he could not even sustain half a kilometer on the bike. His goals are bigger now—he trains regularly with the help of professional coaches and can cover 30km within an hour. Haseeb says, “Cycling offers me a magical combination of independence, individual challenge, and social contact.”

Haseeb’s achievements have gone beyond the world of sports. At 17, he made it to the TEDx stage, where he earned a standing ovation after sharing his story with the world. He published a book chronicling stories of people with intellectual disabilities and has been visiting schools across Pakistan to share these stories. He is also the host of a web channel show on Channel 6 called “Taraay Zameen Par” which means Stars on Earth in Urdu, where he advocates for people with intellectual disabilities on how to create a more inclusive community.

Haseeb’s dream is to be able to do his part to foster a more inclusive society. He says, “If you meet any person with intellectual disabilities, don’t pity us, but be accepting and understanding. Like all individuals, we aspire to lead a life with respect and dignity and to be entitled to a broad range of life activities, including quality education, inclusive schooling systems, accessible spaces, and the right to employment. Help us become part of your world, so we can speak up and realize our dreams—so that we can thrive and not just survive.”
Achivements
  • Owner and CEO Squeezy The Cane Bar
  • Sargent Shriver International Global Messenger Special Olympics 2019-2024.
  • Delivered online motivational speech regarding the Abilities of intellectual disables to PTC  Employees and staff April 2021.
  • Special Olympics World Summer Games 2019 Abu-Dhabi O delivered Opening Ceremony Speech.
  • Participated in the Tour the Khunjerab cycling Race 2019.
  • Published a book “Stories of Special Souls “with the help of special Olympics Pakistan and organized story telling Sessions across different schools in Rawalpindi/Islamabad to create awareness regarding the abilities of Special Olympics athletes.
  • During 2020-21 attended multiple online sessions around the globe to raise awareness regarding Special Olympics contribution towards the betterment of the intellectual disabled.
  • Attended online conferences/ workshops with the help of Special Olympics Pakistan and Special Olympics Asia Pacific Region.
  • Attended multiple conferences in Singapore 2018/19.
  • Attended Unified leadership Role at leadership Academy in Jakarta Indonesia 2019.
  • Won Gold medal in Cycling Special Olympics Pakistan National Games 2018.
  • Attended youth Summit in Austria 2017.
  • Delivered a ted talk at TedX Lahore in 2016.
  • Participated in Asia Pacific Games 2013 in Australia.
  • Won 2 gold medals in bocce 2013.
  • Written article in ISPR magazine Hilal English.
  • Host program on a web channel six for intellectual disables.
  • Many times featured in National and International media campaigns.

Qualification 

Completed Diploma in Special Education from Lahore Board of Technical Education.

School: Lahore Grammer school Wah Cantt

College: Nashmen college for Special Education Wah Cantt

As an intellectually disabled individual, I don’t want my disability to turn into an ability. At 24, I don’t want autism to become a barrier between me and earning a livelihood. The biggest barrier in our lives is the social attitude; people are sympathetic towards us but do not want to understand our abilities and feelings or accept us as equal members of the wider community. We need to move away from a culture of sympathy and pity. We need to change this by understanding, inclusion and integration of people with intellectual disabilities in the society.
Launch of Squeezy
Squeezy The Kane Bar is a family business that is owned by me and my family. Initially, we do not intend to collaborate with any external business partner, which is why we have decided to restrict the sourcing of the start-up capital to 2 major sources. We plan to generate the most part of the start-up capital from personal savings and our secondary source will be soft loans from my family. (Parents).

One of our major goals is to build a business that will survive on its own cash flow without the need for injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running. For further expansion, we will be contacting banking institutions for soft loans and small business financing instruments.