My Story: 'My Speech Was Delayed Because Of My Autism Diagnosis'

Usaid Shaikh is a graphic designer, video editor and animator from Mumbai. Usaid has won numerous awards for his exceptional talents and skills. He was diagnosed with autism in his early childhood and since then he has started using art and sketches as means of communication. Despite the struggles that he faced, he has carved out a path for his career.

It has been a long journey from the time when social interaction was a challenge for him, to the screening of his short film "True Happiness" at the Mumbai International Film Festival 2020. He has a Diploma in Autodesk Maya from MAAC (Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics) and VFX Prime from Arena Animation.

He has been doing freelance work in graphic designing, video editing and illustration work for the last 2 years. Usaid is proficient in the use of Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Autodesk Maya (3Danimation) and Adobe Animate. He went on to work with Big Bazaar, Forum for Autism, Autism Voice- Kerala, NewzHook, Logos Transformation, TALK WITH ME app, Aida Construction, Fedora, Trinayani, Evoluer, Gift-a-smile besides many others. He has designed t-shirts, mugs, tea coasters, fridge magnets, bookmarks, logos, brochures, visiting cards, greeting cards, labels, product graphics, event flyers, cover pages and back covers.

He has marvellous skills in Graphic Designing, Photoshop, Video editing, 2D and 3D animation and is magnificent at creating visual effects. He is ambitious about making a career in graphic design and animation. He says, “I want to get a great job in the animation industry and be independent, buy my own house and car. He shares about his journey as shared below.

What Do You Do?

I am a Graphic Designer , motion graphic artist and video editor. I do freelance graphic designing work and also have my own small venture ‘Teeshirt Adda’ where I customise and print designs on T-shirts , hoodies , bottles , mugs , keychains , pens , diaries , notebooks , frames , etc. My speech was very delayed because of my autism diagnosis. I started communicating by drawing stick figures. Besides art I also loved watching Disney and Pixar movies. This made me choose graphic designing and animation as a career. I love bringing to life my imagination. I still struggle with conversations with new people and also in new social situations.

How Does This Work Support you?

I love this work. I feel happy and it makes me confident to know I can earn with my skills. I feel very proud of myself when I can pay my own bills and spend my money on myself and my family. Through Atypical advantage I have got a lot of freelance work opportunities.

He has worked with Mccann world group, Tata metalliks, future retail (big bazaar), Logostransformation, atypical advantage, talk with me app and newzhook

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