APD: Giving a life of hope and dignity to the challenged

Bengaluru: The Association for People with Disability (APD) reaches out and rehabilitates people with all forms of disability, not only in Bengaluru, but across the state.

Mr V.S. Basavaraju, who has been with the organisation for 24 years, said, “We empower over 30,000 people. Our aim is to create an inclusive society, where people with disabilities are accepted into the mainstream economy and social life, which is difficult. The differently abled need to believe in a culture where they can earn, live and sustain themselves with dignity and respect.”

The association works on four major verticals. “It starts with early intervention, education, livelihood and spinal cord injury. There are support groups for these verticals which take care of the needs of each person belonging to different verticals.”

The association enables and empowers all the stakeholders by ensuring opportunities, promoting inclusion, and giving access to rights and entitlements, said Mr Basavaraju, who was earlier with the Karnataka Welfare Association for the Blind (KWAB). There, he realised that the family members of people with disabilities are often not actively involved in the overall improvement of the person. “With several projects running under APD, like multiple therapy, mobility aid and involvement of people, we provide a comprehensive solution to every person who comes to us,” said Mr Basavraju, who is also the executive director (strategy) of the NGO.

APD also runs Shradhanjali Integrated School (SIS) which is a recognised primary school up to Class VII under the SSLC Board. The school maintains an 80:20 ratio of children with disabilities and non-disabled students to promote inclusion. The school focuses on activity-oriented learning, promoting sports, arts and craft to ensure all-round development. “Over 3,000 children are studying in these schools and the teachers are equipped to train them. As most of the children are from financially weaker families, we provide them mid-day meals, books, uniforms, healthcare, rehabilitation, transportation and adapted learning techniques. This model has ensured 90% mainstreaming, with most children moving to regular or special schools. The school has networked with mainstream schools to ensure that SIS children are easily absorbed after class VII.”

On the number of disabled in the state, he said, “There are over one lakh children with multiple disabilities in Karnataka in the age group of 3-13 years, according to our estimates. These children suffer from severe incidences of disability, like cerebral palsy, locomotor disability, and speech and hearing impairment. They are usually unable to manage their activities of daily living independently and have no exposure to formal learning.”

The APD’s Community Learning Centre programme enables children with disabilities from local slums to access their basic rights through inclusion and equal opportunities for education, along with training parents and caregivers to manage disabilities and engage in self-advocacy.

“Founded in 1959, we have worked extensively over the last 55 years to reach out and rehabilitate people with disability from the underprivileged segment. But we have a long way to go as we have touched only one-third of the disabled population. We need more participation from the people who can help differently abled empowered,” summed up Mr Basavaraju.