Blogs

A brief overview of the intellectually disabled (ID) population globally, particularly in India, highlights the enormity of this challenge. The issue extends beyond the individuals affected—it has far-reaching societal implications. While accurate and comprehensive statistics are lacking, estimates suggest that one to two per cent of India’s population is intellectually disabled. In absolute numbers, this […]

THE series of blogs will be inconclusive and open-ended without an action plan or a strategy to deal with the issue of rehabilitation of IDs. The strength of a chain is only as good as the strength of its weakest link. Today, rehabilitation of IDs is the weakest link of our society. I am sure

OFTEN, I am accused of being conservative and overprotective of our special friends. As a parent, I confess I stand guilty. Which parent would wilfully want to throw his/her intellectually disabled child into a fiercely competitive world, especially if he/she has to compete with normal people? I have quite a different take on it; others

THE meaning of abnormal is “different from what is usual”. In the language of mathematics, abnormal is something that falls beyond 2SD (Standard Deviation). By this definition, our special friends are abnormal; they are different. So I say yes, my daughter Aditi is abnormal. She is different from us in more ways than one. Comprehending

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

ACCORDING to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), inclusivity means creating an environment where adult IDs have an opportunity to: What Navkshitij does Addresses behavioural issues Our special friends cannot go out and make friends like normal youth. By the time they reach us, the youth, especially males, have picked up habits

WE saw the enormity of the problem; it was overwhelming. Most parents of IDs had surrendered to fate. Bringing up an ID child took away so much of their energy and their life that they had nothing left in the tank. Parents with borderline IDs devoted themselves to self-advocacy and finding a job for their

Written by Dr. C. R. Desai WE had learnt a new word: needs analysis. What was the need to establish residential homes like Navkshitij? What we learnt was staggering. Stunning statistics Data showed that one in two hundred children is intellectually disabled (ID). Simply put, there are about 70 lakh individuals in India who need

EARLY 2022 found me shell-shocked after the recent loss of Neelima. I was floundering to find my feet and get a grip on the reins of Navkshitij. Her dream of our Asawali project was weighing me down; a project worth almost 18 crore rupees. We then met God’s own man Mr. Ajit Bhate, the managing