Special children on a special mission

“Usually, single disability is relatively easier to handle as compared to multiple disabilities. That is a major challenge. Our idea was to instil a sense of confidence in these children and ensure that they raised awareness about the issue. When families and teachers come together to support such children, it really boosts their morale,” NAB project coordinator Nandita Saran said.

At present, NAB’s Delhi chapter has a preparatory programme for these differently-abled children, between the ages of 4 and 7, to integrate them into the mainstream. Around 60 such children are part of the group, Saran said.

The other faction includes around 200 visually-impaired children from older age-groups already integrated into the mainstream. The institute also provides services to a little over 60 hearing impaired and visually-impaired students suffering from multi-sensory impairment — 14 of whom walked the Sunday marathon.

“The exercise was aimed at creating awareness among people so that corporate houses, NGOs, and government bodies can come together and focus on the problem of disability. Boeing and Sense International India supported us in this project,” Saran said.

For 17-year-old Lakshya Yadav, this was probably one of the most “exciting” days, his mother Shashi said. Lakshya was a few days old when doctors told Shashi, a Central government employee, that he might never be able to see.

“Lakshya was a premature baby. When he was not even a month old, he developed ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). We took him to many doctors but in vain. With time, he developed multiple disabilities. Today, he has speech impairment and low-grade mental retardation,” Shashi said.

Recalling her struggle, the mother of two said initially it was hard to accept that her son was different. Shashi’s firstborn is a daughter who is perfectly healthy. The attitude of the family, she added, did not help matters.

“I see my daughter going to work every day. If Lakshya did not suffer from the disabilities, he would have done the same. The attitude of the people towards disability in India is not encouraging. But I was determined to support my child,” she said.

Slowly, Shashi said, things fell into place. “Today, Lakshya attends school. Seeing him walk the marathon made me happy because he was so excited. I will bring him here every year. He has no mobility issues so he walked the entire stretch happily,” Shashi said.

Another participant, Riya Dutta (14), was there with her aunt, Maya. Visually impaired since infancy, she also suffers from the problem of slow development of the brain. A row of corrective surgeries have failed to show much improvement.

“Riya woke up very early today and started telling us to get her ready ‘in time’. She walked from 7.30 am to 9 am. It was really nice to see children and their families get together. It is a great experience for such children. For us, these are the only reminders of normalcy,” Maya said.