|
Role of Adarsh in Spreading Awareness
Studies all over the world indicate that the incidence of Cerebral Palsy and Autism is about 5-6 in thousand births. The incidence of Learning Problems has been assessed to be about .... and that of Downs Syndrome 1 in 600 to 800. Some localized studies in Kerala also confirm these figures. This means that out of 37 lakhs children under age of 6 in Kerala (Census of 2001), 20000 are born with Cerebral Palsy and Autism and ... with Learning problems and ...with Downs Syndrome. While in and around major towns where hospital facilities are easily available, such children may be identified early and correction of the effects of cerebral palsy by surgery or medical help may be possible. But in other far-flung areas, rehabilitation is certainly not possible for want of adequate number of institutions. In fact, in the whole state of Kerala with a population of 3.2 Crores and population of 37 lakhs, under the age of 6, there are hardly a handful of institutions attempting specific rehabilitation of CP and Autistic children. There are a large number of institutions where children with all kinds of challenges, including Mental Retardation are put together, resulting in such children not receiving adequate and requisite care. Proper rehabilitation is possible only if the specific challenge is identified and rehabilitation steps on that basis are organised. Therefore, there is an imperative and urgent need to spread the message, particularly in rural areas, about the high incidence of disabilities such as CP and Autism, the need for early identification, followed up by prompt and corrective rehabilitative measures. Along with this there is also an equally essential need to set up many more rehabilitation centers, like Adarsh, each of which will cater to places within a radius of 10 - 15Kms. The experience at Adarsh has shown us that lack of mobility and financial constraints, both lead to one conclusion namely that a rehabilitation center for children with challenges, particularly in India "should go to the children rather than the children coming to the school". In other words, practically it is not possible for one particular school to cater to the requirement of more than a small area around it, even with excellent transportation facilities.
In this background, Adarsh has been working, even within its limited resources to spread awareness about the problem of CP, about the possibility of children getting rehabilitated within a reasonable period of time and about their being able to pursue their studies in mainstream schools thereafter.
These efforts have succeeded to a limited extent. The Trust has been constantly expanding its activities and as part of its Community Rehabilitation program, Adarsh has been able to set up 14 special schools across different districts of the state. Also outstation technical advice has been provided to other institutes. Over 300 children are getting benefit by way of training and therapy at these centers. Rehabilitation, when understood in a comprehensive manner, should be able to take care of all aspects of the challenged child's development. In order to facilitate this, Adarsh has been reaching out medical and surgical assistance across various disciplines such as Orthopedic, ENT, Dentistry, Opthalmology etc, to the challenged children. Children with CP have not only impairment in locomotion, but also other problems like impairment in speech, hearing etc., associated with brain damage. While physical therapy in the school was confined to remedying the locomotion problems to the extent possible by therapy alone, in other areas needing medical/ surgical assistance, the parents were left to fend for themselves. Thus the facility of Orthopedic surgery was considered a boon for such children. 51 children have benefited by way of Orthopedic surgery alone. To facilitate easy access for parents, particularly mothers of challenged children,who are not able to attend even a special school in the neighbourhood, either because of the severity of disability,or financial or logistic problems, a Home Based Rehabilitation programme has been introduced. This has come up in 3 panchayaths, in the vicinity of the school. The project has yet to take off . Once it takes off and we feel that we have been able to do something meaningful to about 15 to 20 children in these panchayats, we will make this a model for all the special schools that come up as a result of our CBR team's efforts.
A 'Risk Baby Unit' has also been set up in the neo-natological departments of 4 hospitals whereby potential disability in children is identified as early as two weeks after birth, and proper therapy given from then onwards. The services of this unit have been made available to over 750 new born babies.
|
