Disability Inclusive Development

Nikita’s story is a true example of care and compassion

NIKITA AND HER SELF-DETERMINATION

7-years old Nikita a resident of Buipal village of Khandwa, MP was suffering from Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy, and till the age of 7, could barely stand on her own and do ‘Activities of Daily Living’ (ADL). Her father, a bus driver and mother a housewife strived hard to provide best possible medical care for their daughter, but were unable to find a suitable rehabilitation service for Nikita.

It is one fine day, when the family came to learn about ‘Sambhav’ tele-rehabilitation service through a ‘Community Based Rehabilitation’ (CBR) professional of St. Paul’s Service Society, Khandwa, the couple felt quite hopeful of seeing their baby girl walk on her own for the first time. During the rehabilitation process we found that Nikita’s legs were weak and she even had issues in her backbone. Team started with counselling her parents, providing her with assistive devices such as standing frame, parallel bar and then enrolling her at the day care centre of the organization. Under our expert guidance and supervision, local CBR workers daily visited her place and gave rehab therapies and motivational support which made the complete rehabilitation process more effective.

As a result, Nikita can now sit without support and also stand by catching hold of something for support. She has even started to lift her leg while walking the parallel bar. With the assistance of her caretaker, she can also walk up to the toilet for her personal needs. The drooling too has reduced well now.

We feel quite contented when kids like Nikita get benefitted through our services, as it’s our sincere commitment to provide best tele-rehabilitation services to ‘Children with Disabilities’ wherever they may be.

SAVITRI’S IMPAIRMENT DOESN’T MAKE HER DISABLED

Savitri’s story is a true example of encouragement and galvanization.

Savitri, a 24 year old young girl hails from Paramanandpur, Varanasi. Her father is a daily laborer and her mother is a housewife. She has an elder sister and two younger brothers. Savitri is the second child of her parents.

Savitri was born healthy, one particular day she was suffering from high fever and was taken to a doctor. He gave her an injection for the fever and she was taken back to home. However later she again was diagnosed from fever and became a victim of polio. Savitri never knew what was happening to her at that moment. But from the time of her conscience, she could count only the sufferings in her childhood. She says ‘Except my mother and my sister, none of my family members have a soft heart for me. I can feel their hatred for me. Seeing me they get irritated. My family members were quite upset about me. They used to feel that I was a burden on them. How could I live, study, go out and play with others? Who would marry me?’ She further said that her family members did not allow her to get out of the house. Though savitri was high in her intellectual qualities and abilities but physically she was very helpless. She used to crawl all day inside the room. She had no friends and no other means of playing or enjoying her childhood.

During the field visit of a JVS mediator, one of her relatives gave the information about her condition at home. The mediator learned that her father was not ready to do anything for her, however the mother always supported savitri. She was enrolled in to the Liliane Foundation (LF) project. She was helped by getting a wheel chair and was soon enrolled in a government school and then continued her studies happily. There were times when she was teased by the neighborhood children and school children because of her disability. At times she used to lose control of her feelings and burst into tears. Her friend Ms. Seeta used to console and help her in the school. All the difficulties she faced were the stepping stones for her success. She said ‘I always used to keep in my mind that my disability should not limit myself from any achievements. I will prove that persons with disabilities also can do great things’.  With a strong determination to achieve something in life she persistently worked hard throughout her life. As a result of her hard work, currently she is teaching at an anganwadi school (ICDS, PROGRAMME OF Government OF India) and furthermore she takes tuitions for the school children at her home.

She is able to support herself for her higher education from the little earning from the school and tuitions. The perspective of people about her as a girl with disability who cannot do anything has changed very much. The neighbors who used to tease her, have now started respecting her as a teacher and are sending their children for tuitions to her. She was one of the invitees for the international women’s day celebration 2015 organized by Jan Vikas Samiti. She has proved that she is capable of doing great things. She has also become a medium of information regarding the new schemes of government for the persons with disabilities.

Savitri has been dropped from the LF project since October 2013. With great respect and honor towards JVS-LF she said in the end ‘What I am today is just because of the generous support from Liliane Foundation, through continuous guidance of JVS’. I thank everyone who extended their hands together to help me for my future. Savitri’s mother also expressed her heartfelt gratitude to JVS for all the wonderful work that JVS has done for her daughter.