Aids distributed for multiple disabilities
District Collector Neeraj Mittal (left) fitting a hearing aid for a student at the District Disabled Rehabilitation Office at the Collectorate in Coimbatore on Tuesday. Project Officer National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities A. Amarnath (second left) and District Disabled Rehabilitation Officer J.J. Jesuraj (third left) are in the picture.A young lady sat inside a cab, resting her artificial limb on the seat, outside the district Disabled Rehabilitation Office at the Collectorate on Tuesday. She, among many others with physical and mental disabilities, had assembled at the office to receive aids distributed by the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities.About 400 people with disabilities will be provided with aids such as wheelchairs, artificial limbs, walkers, callipers and modified shoes on November 20 and 21.Identification camps were conducted from July to assess the needs of the people. Those who were below the poverty line and needed assistive devices were selected.
“This devices implementation programme has been organised with the objective of facilitating people with disabilities to live independently,” said A. Amarnath, Project Co-ordinator of the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities. “Multiple disabilities itself is an emerging area. For a person with more than one disability, existing service models are not enough. We need to evolve a new method of delivering inputs to them,” he said. “We need to develop a method to reach a person who is impaired both visually and hearing wise or has orthopaedic impairment and cerebral palsy.”
The programme would cover the whole of Tamil Nadu. Functioning under the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the institute was concerned with the development of service models for multiple disabilities, research and documentation and conducting training programmes for special educators. It implemented its schemes through the district rehabilitation offices of the State Governments.
The population of the disabled in Coimbatore district was close to 30,000. About 47 per cent of them had orthopaedic disability and mental disability formed the second majority, Mr. Amarnath said. At the two-day programme, children with mental disability would be given teaching and learning materials. Visually-impaired students would be given CD players that could be used for their studies and also Braille watches, abacus and Braille slates. The total cost of the project was approximately Rs.7 lakh.
People with multiple disabilities who require guidance could write to the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilties, Muttukadu, Kovalam (post), Kancheepuram 603112. Or call 044-27472389.
