There is much more to life for people affected with Parkinson’s disease than treatments and medications, believes Sudha Meiyappan, founder of Parivarthan, a community support group in Chennai that provides a safe platform to those diagnosed with Parkinson’s disorder.
Shaik Mohideen Sahib returned to India couple of years ago after he retired as a Hindi teacher for 20 years in Muscat, Oman. This was not his best time since his mother had recently passed away, he was …
International Autism Awareness Day 2016 #autismawareness Madurai based Velvi is one of the few organisations in the world, and probably the first in India, that has applied techniques of theatre and drama to address issues of autism. Dr Parasuram Ramamoorthi, the chairperson of and brain behind Velvi, shares its remarkable journey. Your organization, Velvi, is an early adopter in India in applying drama to transform the lives of children and adults affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (…
International Autism Awareness Day 2016 #autismawareness A significant number of children with autism are gifted artistes and need to be provided the appropriate environment and stimulation to flower. Kavitha Krishnamoorthy, parent, arts facilitator, activist, observer-of-children, shares her insights and learnings in this conclusion of a two-part series article on autism spectrum disorder. As I began observing and working with more children with autism, I realised that what I saw with my son…
International Autism Awareness Day 2016 #autismawareness The Amaze Charitable Trust, born from challenges of raising a child with autism, helps families navigate the autism maze through innovative programmes, social skills, adventure camps and employment opportunities, says its director Akila Vaidyanathan. Could you give us a little background on Amaze Charitable Trust? What was the vision behind Amaze? Autism is a complex disorder; it affects the core areas of communication and social…
International Autism Awareness Day 2016 #autismawareness Kavita Sharma talks about Prayas, a unit or a project of Autism Society of India that focuses on iPad, computer and technology-based training for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Could you give us a little background on Project Prayas and its goals and objectives? Project Prayas embraces a mission that unfolds and reinforces the potentials of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder towards quality education and independent…
Changing the emotional response towards women with mental illness is what mental health activist Ratnaboli Ray, and her organisation, Anjali are trying to do. Here in conversation with PatientsEngage: A WHO report mentions that gender differences occur particularly in the rates of common mental disorders like depression and anxiety. These disorders, in which women predominate, constitute a serious public health problem. How do you address the concept of gender parity as far…
Dipti Bhatia is the deputy director of Vidya Sagar, a Chennai based organization working with persons with multiple disabilities. Undeterred by her own congenital visual impairment, she strongly advocates inclusion and empowerment of women with disability. Have you observed any gender difference as far as policies and practices are concerned in Special Needs Schools like Vidya Sagar? There is no gender discrimination from the school as far as policies and practices are concerned.…
Reshma Valliappan, also known as Val Resh, is an artist-activist for a number of issues related to mental health, disability, sexuality and human rights. She lives with schizophrenia without medication and provides the early voice and leadership for persons living with mental illness to speak and advocate for their own rights. PE: As a mental health activist, what are the gender based differences you have seen in terms of access to diagnosis and treatment? As a woman, it is so…
Harmala Gupta traversed the journey from being a cancer survivor to founding CanSupport, a home based Palliative Care service in Delhi and NCR. CanSupport also runs out-patient clinics. Harmala Gupta shares her views with PatientsEngage on Palliative Care. PE: According to the ACHEON study ("The non-interventional, anonymous, non-biased ACHEON survey was the first and largest cross sectional evaluation of physicians’ and patients’ perspectives on cancer and non-cancer pain management…
