Global Perspectives Seminar: Zhanat Karaty of Pioneer Inclusive Mountain Resort

Event details Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2026 Time: 12:15 PM to 1:15 PM Location: Center for the Health Professions Building (CHP) - 109 - 1540 Alcazar Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033 Cost: RSVP Type: Lecture / Talk / Workshop Campus: Health Sciences Campus Department: USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy Audience: Students, Alumni, Faculty/Staff About this event Global Initiatives and the OTSC International Relations Chair are pleased to host our first Global Perspectives Seminar of the semester! On Tuesday, October 13, 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm (in CHP 109 and on Zoom), Ms. Zhanat Karaty will be sharing about the Pioneer Inclusive Mountain Resort, a remarkable inclusive mountain ski/snow-boarding resort and ecosystem for children with developmental delays and disabilities near Almaty, Kazakhstan. https://skiparkpioneer.kz/en. In her presentation, Ms. Karatay will share her family's and Pioneer's story, as she and her husband founded Pioneer after their oldest son was diagnosed with autism at a time when Kazakhstan had almost no autism services. Over the past 10+ years, she has developed Pioneer into a program that has delivered 10,000+ adaptive skiing lessons to over 1,000 children with special needs each year, a year-round inclusive mountain camp serving 1,500 schoolchildren annually, and a center that has helped put autism on Kazakhstan's national agenda. In 2025, the Government of Kazakhstan named Pioneer the inclusive center of the new Almaty mountain cluster. We hope you will join us on October 13, either in-person in CHP 109 or on Zoom! Please do RSVP here https://forms.gle/tNq25T6Cd4ee6Ej19 so we can properly prepare. Official event details: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/global-perspectives-seminar-pioneer-inclusive-mountain-resort