Developmental Challenges

Mrs Neera Chawla, Director of Muskaan, an NGO which strives to empower adults with disabilities, talks about their employment programmes and how they try to make inclusion a reality. What categories of disabilities does Muskaan work with? What are the programmes you offer? We primarily work with adults who have intellectual disabilities and multiple disabilities. We have a few cases of Autism also. We mostly have adult training programmes, which are ascertained according to the different…

AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH A peep into the mind of Christopher Pereira, a young adult with autism, who shares his understanding of abstract concepts like ‘Self-determination’ and ‘Autonomy’ lucidly.

The Independent Living Program, an offshoot of Arunima, one of India’s first assisted living centres for teenagers and adults with autism, provides services and support to people with higher functioning autism to independence and dignity. In conversation with Aparna Das, founder director of Arunima. A few years ago, you set up Arunima, one of India’s first assisted living centres for teenagers and adults with autism. And now recently, you extended its vision to launch a new initiative, The…

AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH They played, they fought, they eat cheese burgers with friends… this may seem like a story of just any household with two boys with an age difference of five years. Except that Orko has epilepsy and is autistic. In a heartwarming account, Rajeev Roy talks about the very special relationship he shares with his younger brother. Pic 1- Rajeev (left) and Orko My brother, Orko, was born. In 5 months he experienced his first seizure. Truth be told, he didn't - we experienced…

AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH Neha Uttam, a person diagnosed with autism and resident of Independent Living Program, is a staff member at Arunima. Here she recounts in detail her grooming to be self-reliant and the sheer joy of becoming independent. I was diagnosed with high-functioning autism in 2008. I have been teaching for almost 13 years now. My elder brother inspired me to opt for Independent Living. I learnt about Arunima, the care and rehabilitation centre for autism, in Dehradun from Action…

The theme for World Autism Awareness Day 2017 is ‘Toward Autonomy and Self-determination’. This year, instead of speaking to parents, caregivers or health professions, we have got 5 young adults on the autism spectrum disorder to voice their thoughts and feelings on what autonomy and self-determination means to them. Read their evocative responses. 1)    NISHANT SRIRAM (21 years old) Background He is currently an intern at AMAZE’s flagship program AMEYA – AMAZE PROGRAM FOR…

The heartwarming documentary Raising the Bar directed by Onir and presented by e.motion21 is about six young individuals from Australia with Down syndrome attending the World Down Syndrome Congress in Chennai. An interview with Karina Posanzini, CEO of e.motion21. 1. The documentary movie Raising the Bar has won awards and is doing the film festival circuit. Tell us about the movie and how did the Indian-Australian collaboration come about? Raising The Bar highlights the…

Varuni Agrawal is a sprightly 29-year-old young lady with Down’s Syndrome. She is a Teacher’s Assistant at Tagore International School in Delhi. Her parents and siblings, have, of course, been her support all the way. A tete-a-tete with Varuni and her parents on her desires and aspirations: Rajeev and Nita Agrawal: Varuni's parents: Varuni is a beautiful and vivacious girl. She enjoys Bollywood movies and music and loves to play music on Youtube and dance to it. When and how did you detect that…

The Rehabilitation Research and Device Development (R2D2) lab at IIT Madras, headed by Dr. Sujatha Srinivasan, is involved in research related to design and development of mechanisms, products and assistive devices for people with impairments. Let’s take a look at some of their pioneering products. Dr. Sujatha Srinivasan has established the Rehabilitation Research and Device Development (R2D2) lab (now the TTK Center for R2D2) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Madras with a…

The concept of inclusive and accessible outdoor play areas for differently abled is being actively recognised and built across several cities in India. Manju George, Senior Program Officer, ESAF Bangalore, talks about the challenges involved in undertaking these initiatives. Why did you embark on this initiative of an inclusive play area? In 2008, a research done across three cities with children and different stakeholders highlighted the issue of lack of play spaces for kids. Hardly anyone…