There are an estimated 7,862,921 children living with disability below the age of 19 in India, among which 595,089 have intellectual disability according to the 2011 census
Sanket Gala, 19, was happy to get into his preferred college after class 10 just like any other high scoring student. But when his college found out that Gala was wheelchair bound due to muscular dystrophy that weakens muscles, he was denied admission. Counsellors at Ummeed Child Development and Disability Centre, where Gala was being treated for his developmental and emotional issues stepped in to counsel the administrators in the college. “I am now studying Humanities there,” Sanket said at the opening of the latest state-of-the-art training centre of Ummeed in South Mumbai. The first-of-its-kind training centre will cater to parents, teachers, community workers as well as paediatrician to help them identify and manage children with mental disabilities.
Autism, cerebral palsy, Down’s Syndrome, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and learning disabilities are some of the disabilities the centre will address. “We have programmes where we teach community workers with different NGOs to provide support for mental illness, partner with BMC-run special schools to train teachers to work with kids with disabilities and hold workshops for paediatricians to identify children with mental disability,” said Dr Vibha Krishnamurthy, executive director, Ummeed.
There are an estimated 7,862,921 children living with disability below the age of 19 in India, among which 595,089 have intellectual disability according to the 2011 census.
Ummeed that trained 1,000 people last year, hopes to scale up training. “We will bring principals, community workers and paediatricians here who can then go back to their communities and train others,” said Rumana Hamied, CEO of Cipla Foundation, who has funded the project.
Availability and affordability of facilities for children with disabilities is a major issue in India. “Tier-2 and tier-3 cities still have a long way to go in terms of awareness. Many paediatrician working their too are not able to redirect parents to a tertiary care centre,” said Dr Raju Khubchandani, director of paediatrics at the Jaslok Hospital. He however added that childhood development is now being seen as an investment in the human resource, a change in the attitude from the time he started his practise.
Dr Krishnamurthy also stresses that mental disabilities cannot be looked at in isolation. “Nutrition and child development go hand in hand so it is important to address the entire picture,” she said. “What I would love to see is more partnerships at the grassroots level. Issue of child development and disability should be spoken about a lot more, just like the cause of the girl child,” she added.
KEY PROGRAMMES
- Parent programme for autism to help train caregivers
- Community mental health training programme for social workers
- Early childhood disability programme
- Training teachers in 8 civic-run special schools in Mumbai to work with kids with disabilities
- Training workshop for paediatricians
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