Sense international (india)-Hope for Special Children

The world exclusively dedicates December 3rd for special children of the earth. We in India conduct many programmes like sports and other competitions, cultural shows etc etc.

But many of us do not know that there is an organisation caring for the deaf blind and also for multiple disorder children. Sense International (India) is the first national non governmental organisation, a registered trust within India to support the development of comprehensive services for deaf blind people. Now it supports services to all multiple disorder children. The office is in Ahmedabad.

The main objectives of the organisation are, 1. To reach out to children with multiple disability who are not getting any kind of services, 2. To train parents the skills to improve the capabilities of the child and accept the child and understand the special needs. 3. Develop the staff and give them training in taking care and educating the children.

The organisation has set up so far 37 services in 19 states in India. Sense International has 3 net works functioning, “Abhi - Prerna” - for the Teachers Network, “Prayas”- for Family Network and “Udaan” for Network of persons with Deaf blindness / Multi Sensory Impairment

The organisation conducts seminar for 2 days in September wherein the children with parents, and teachers of different states are invited and they interact among themselves. Here the problems, lack of professional services, lack of facilities to the teachers are discussed in detail.

This year the seminar was conducted in Ahmedabad itself for 2 days, Sep. 19th & 20th. Though the representation from different states was less, the interaction was good, it seems. Parents felt the need for more trained teachers. But however the teachers vented out their grievances like lack of transportation , meagre pay scale etc. One teacher narrated the story how he had to travel 12 hours to reach the village, teach for 2 hours and travel back same 12 hours. He undergoes this ordeal 3 days a week. He gets only nominal pay which is far from sufficient, but gets immense satisfaction that the child is improving. (These informations were given by a parent who attended the seminar)

Some parents are happy that the child has improved a lot due real care from parents and teacher. One student from the special children school in Muttukadu, Chennai even got awards from state government.

These informations were given by a parent who attended the seminar this year.

The success stories of the children found in their website http://www.senseintindia.org/ are amazing.

I here quote a dream expressed by a 11 year old girl as seen in the website - 'I love the
breeze against my face, the feel of the sand as it flows from my fist. I can smell air and predict
rain. I want to be a meteorologist one day. The first deaf blind meteorologist of the world!!'

O' what a lively dream.

Our Government has brought out several social security schemes for them.

LIC once had a policy Jeevan Aadhar for disabled people. Now that has been closed and a similar schemes has been brought, it appears. However I understand that LIC has s separate wing for disabled persons which functions at their Teynampet Office, Chennai.

The awareness in the society, the organisation says, very very less. Once the parents become member, the organisation will take care of the kid with respect to education, securing job etc if the parents are not in a position to provide the same.

The future plans of the organisation are By 20 17 1. At least 1 deaf blind service provider will be available in each state. 2. About 70,000 deaf blind people (62,500 children and 7,500 adults) will be utilising quality, needs-based services. 3. No deaf blind child will travel more than a day to
get appropriate services.

E-mail: info@senseintindia.org
web site: www.senseintindia.org
Toll free deaf blind helpline : 1800 233 7913