Option-less parents of mentally-challenged children opening cure homes themselves
29 Jul 2018 |
- Every parent worries about their children's future despite their financial disposition, so they will their properties and arrange for their children's financial comfort.
- But for mentally-ill children, the concern increases manifolds, which further gets aggravated since India isn't exactly a haven for them.
- Considering this, parents in Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru are taking it upon themselves to ensure a safe future for their children.
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Badlapur home has 50 specially-abled people enjoying themselves
Maharashtra |
- In Badlapur, 53kms from Mumbai, there's a 1.5-acre facility run by NGO Sangopita (meaning 'to nurture' in Sanskrit), which was started in 2003 by Ravindra and Sujata Sugwekar, parents to 22-year-old cerebral palsy-afflicted Akshay.
- They house 50 specially-abled people, aged 8-45.
- A little closer to Mumbai is Adhar, founded in 1999. The home now has 220 people and its Nashik branch has another 100.
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Savli, a Pune home, was started by ex-mechanical engineer
Karnataka |
- 150kms away from Mumbai, in Pune, an 81-year-old ex-mechanical engineer Vasant Thakar took matters into his hands in 1992, after doctors termed his cerebral palsy-affected daughter as 'untrainable'.
- Subsequently, he established two homes under a trust called Savli, Marathi for 'shelter'.
- In Bengaluru, former political science professor Ruby Singh started a daycare center named ALFAA in 2012, to "secure her autistic son's future."
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Kerala couple has donated their entire property for state-run homes
FACT |
In Kerala, retired teachers N Kamalasanan, 76, and CK Sarojini, 72, are desperate for their 36-year-old daughter Priya's future, as she suffers from motor-neuron disease. They've donated properties worth Rs. 8cr to the state-government solely for building subsidized care-homes, where Priya would also be accommodated. |
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Inmates taught to communicate, swim, make paper-bags, candles
Activities |
- All these homes have caretakers and special educators; Sangopita has 32 staff members, while ALFAA has 14.
- Sangopita also has psychiatrists, physiotherapists and doctors, who visit periodically and provide their services voluntarily.
- These caretakers engage the inmates in activities like making paper-bags, candles and handkerchiefs. They're also trained to communicate and swim.
- At ALFAA, they have poetry and chocolate-making classes too.
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Most of the homes face problems regarding financial funding
Challenges |
- Running a home like this in a country like India is no rare feat. Among the major challenges, finance tops the list.
- Sangopita was started solely on donations. A local industrialist also helped them, said Sujata.
- Thakar was helped by a diamond merchant, who took pity on his struggles.
- Monthly rents charged between Rs. 8,000-15,000 and donations supplement their income.
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'Parents aren't shirking their responsibility, making wards' lives easier'
NGO says |
- Another big challenge managers face is parents' guilt of handing over their children to the centre.
- For this, both Adhar and Sangopita conduct parent-child counseling sessions.
- "Half of our job is explaining distraught parents that they aren't shirking their responsibility," says Gore.
- This was echoed by Sucheta, who still feels guilty about not being the primary caregiver of her son, who lives in Sangopita.
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Government should intervene, focus on cure rather than rehabilitation: Experts
Solutions |
- Experts lauded parents coming up like this, given that only a few state-run facilities are available for 15L mentally-challenged adults.
- However, "this kind of semi-formal or formal model needs to adhere to some minimum standards" to be "set by the government," said NIMHANS director Dr Nimesh Desai.
- Dr Ramkumar GS, former NIMHANS psychiatrist, added the government should focus on cure rather than rehabilitation.
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