EVERY morning, Thomas went to the beach, picked up fish that were flipping and threw them back into the water. The fish had been stranded on the beach at high tide; Thomas saved their lives. A monk who came to the beach to meditate every morning silently observed Thomas and his actions. One day, the monk asked him, “Thousands of fish are beached each day. How does throwing back a few make a difference?” Thomas bent down picked a fish, threw it in the water and said, “It has made a difference to this fish.”
A typical CSR interview with us goes this way, “How many beneficiaries do you have?” We proudly say, “Ninety.”
“Only ninety! You spend so much money to look after only ninety people? Okay, what is your output?”
We point to our special friends and say, “Look at the joy on their faces.” The visiting team members look at each other, some rolling their eyes. “Okay, what are your basic needs?”
“Our main expenditure is on salaries.”
“We don’t give for salaries. We can give you wheelchairs and used laptops; they can play computer games. We can send a team to teach your inmates chess. We can give educational materials. We can train them and give them jobs.” This will go on for a few more minutes and then we are told, “You don’t get in touch with us; we will call you.”
Defining the problem: Hardware vs. software
We knew that we had started on the wrong foot. It was our mistake. We had not defined the problem well. There is a big difference between other disabilities and ID. Other disabled persons have issues with the hardware: limbs, eyes and ears. IDs have a problem with their software; they do not think the way we do. Giving hardware solutions for software problems does not work. Our special friends need help to brush their teeth, wash themselves after going to the toilet, dress up and eat with their hands without spilling food all over their dress. The whole programme of caregiving is personnel intensive; obviously, our main expenditure is on salaries.
Why personnel-intensive
We need personnel to give them their daily exercise. We need special educators to help them out at the workshop. Our special friends will spend the rest of their lives in this compound. We need to have a good garden with flowering plants. We need normal people around them to celebrate their birthdays and festivals together. We are told that employing both husband and wife together and having them stay on campus is a wrong policy; no one does it. People are shocked when they see the children of our staff running all over the place. We know that this is the only way we can replicate the normal world for our special friends; this is inclusivity.
At Navkshitij, the IDs are not tolerated; they are accepted as they are. They do not have to look normal or behave normal. They can’t. If they went for a job outside the premises, whether they wanted to or not and whether they understood it or not, they’d be forced to be “normal”. Can you imagine the pressure on the IDs? At Navkshitij, they feel normal; they are the normal ones. It’s their world, their home. Here, the impact of their deficiencies is mitigated and they have all the facilities to explore their strengths. They are encouraged to select the type of work they would like to do; they can decide how long they want to do it. We ensure that their dignity is respected. They are exposed to all the beautiful things the world has to offer, and we ensure their safety in their bubble.
Impact of the Navkshitij Model
Let us see the impact of a residential rehabilitation facility like Navkshitij. We look after 90 IDs, 24 hours, 365 days, year after year for about four decades; the numbers when you multiply them are staggering. The impact on their family is amazing. I can give the example of our family. Aditi’s sister Noopur won two national gold medals in tennis, got trained in the US and came back to India as the first veterinary oncologist of India. Her husband Shardul is the India head of PWC India. Neelima, Aditi’s mother, did her PhD in Ayurveda at the age of fifty, served patients for 27 years, started and nurtured Navkshitij and did the toughest high-altitude treks in the Himalayas. I have published more than 20 scientific research papers, created the first-ever search engine by an Indian, written six books and written this series of blogs. All this was possible because we knew that our darling princess Aditi was being well taken care of at Navkshitij. We have 90 IDs living with us and 90 such success stories to share. I just cannot do the math for impact analysis.
The IDs are a force to reckon with
I have said it before but let me say it again. As individuals, our special friends may not have too much to showcase; but, as a group, they are a force to reckon with. When we go on treks we carry empty sacks with us. Our friends enjoy picking up the plastic carelessly strewn by others; people watching them learn. We conduct street plays that address issues such as respecting a girl child, the dangers of using plastic, the importance of trees in our ecology and so on. They give a message to those who watch. Every month, we take them on a traffic awareness drive to a busy crossing. Our friends stand with slogans: Obey traffic rules; Your speed is dangerous for us; People with brains use helmets and so on.
Our trekking and adventure activities have a great impact on others. Others watch the determination and the grit of our special friends to go the extra mile. The IDs show them, “If we can do it; so can you.”
I have said in the beginning that the software of our special friends is wired differently. They have a lot to teach us if we can open ourselves out to them. In fact, I call Aditi my little Zen master.
Read Previous Blogs:
- Understanding Inclusivity
- Self-advocacy
- Navkshitij: An end-to-end solution
- Why Navkshitij
- The Corporate Way
- New Horizons, new challenges
- The ID-Centric Home
- Deep diving into the world of IDs (continued)
- Deep dive into the world of the Intellectually Disabled
- Through the eyes of a parent
- Rehabilitation and Inclusivity: An Introduction
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