Editorial
ChildRaise.com completes 15 years of committed service on International Day of Persons with Disability.
IN 2001, We - ChildRaise launched our first project, www.childraise.com on International Day of Persons with Disability. From then on, we made it a point to launch our new services on this special day.In 2004, we released our Resource guide- Journey to Empowerment:a roadmap for special needs children. In 2010, we launched our Toll Free Helpline - DISHA on this very same day with no. 1800-22-1203 having specific meaning. 12 represents the month of December & 03 is the date 3rd, for people to associate & remember the toll free no with IDPD.
Since 1992, the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) has been celebrated annually on 3 December around the world.The theme for this year's International Day is "Achieving 17 Goals for the Future We Want". This theme notes the recent adoption of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the role of these goals in building a more inclusive and equitable world for persons with disabilities.
This year's objectives include assessing the current status of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities(CRPD) and SDGs and laying the foundation for a future of greater inclusion for persons with disabilities.
" Leave No one behind "
"We mark this year's International Day of Persons with Disabilities in the wake of the adoption of the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.This global blueprint for action summons us to "leave no one behind".
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
This month...We celebrate Children's Day on 14th Nov & National Epilepsy Day on 17th Nov.
In India we celebrate November 14 as Children's Day, while 20th November is universally celebrated as Children's Day. In India this day has been pre-poned to 14th November, the date that marks the birth anniversary of independent India's first Prime Minister – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.The reason why his birthday has been chosen for the celebration of children is because of his love and passion for children.
My journey in the special education & disability field started with my having epilepsy (tendency to have fits) episodes post childbirth & eventually my joining Indian Epilepsy association & Samman- Epilepsy Support Group in Mumbai. In these past more than two decades of my association with Samman, I have seen that impact of epilepsy is adverse in childhood & it clouds every aspect of life thereafter. I have witnessed many cases of children with epilepsy going haywire due to lack of resources, guidance & counselling. That is the reason, now I am focussing on delivering information through this website www.childraise.com & our disability helpline DISHA toll free no : 1800-22-1203.
In this month all our efforts will be more geared to increase Epilepsy Awareness & provide rehabilitation resources that are available for people with epilepsy especially to provide educational , psycho-social guidance to children with epilepsy & their parents.
Let us all join hands together to bring "Epilepsy Out Of The Shadows!"
Action packed month with events like Daan Utsav, World Cerebral Palsy Day & Learning Disability Awareness Month.
October is a action packed month for us in ChildRaise. Actually, the action has started in the month of September itself, which will gain momentum in this month. Our "Ganesha Online Art Event" announced last month, had a fantastic response.( Soon you will get to see the entries in a compiled form on our social media page)..We completed registrations for Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2017 with some of our long time supporters & some new young participants joining in.We released our Newsletter for Jan-June.We have also announced ChildRaise Workshop on Learning Disability by eminent resource person Bela Raja to be held on 16th October 2016.
This month has kick started with Charity events like Daan Utsav(Oct 02- Oct 08). Do participate in our Daan Utsav. Kindly donate in cash/kind. Do keep in mind Mother Teresa's quote- "Ít is not how much we give, but how much love we put into it".
5th October is celebrated as World Cerebral Palsy Day. We have written a blog post on Sumukh who has Cerebral Palsy. We have included a video clip of Ganesha Aarti played by him and how he puts life & soul in to making bracelets.Help him realise his aspiration to do online work. Read about him, encourage, cheer him & in turn get inspired!
October is declared as Learning Disability Awareness Month.In 1985, it was decided through a proclamation in the U.S. by President Ronald Reagan. Since then, many other countries have started Awareness campaigns through out the October month.
We are also observing World Mental Health Day,on October 10th, to raise public awareness about mental health issues worldwide.We are aware that blindness and vision impairment as global public health issues.Therefore, we would like to draw your attention towards World Sight Day, which is observed on second Thursday of October, which falls on the 12th this year & to White Cane Safety Day on 15th October!
ChildRaise wishes you all a very Happy Dassera, Diwali & Bakri Id !! We have Greeting cards, Diyas, board Rangolis & novel jute items.Do contact us for upcoming festival season and plan your gifts for your near & dear ones!!
September is a very eventful month.
We are very happy to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi in this month. We will be praying to 'Vighnaharta' and offer our gratitude to our Gurujan-our Teachers on September 5th. Then we move on to observe 'Deaf Awareness Week' which will be celebrated from Sept 24th to 30th worldwide. On 30th Sept, 'International Day of Sign language Rights' will also be celebrated.
This month we are announcing an online Drawing & Painting event where in we are inviting paintings of Ganesha (in crayon, watercolour) from children. To celebrate Teacher's Day, we are inviting few lines from children about their teacher. We are expecting children to write, say & record & send us via What's App (Why not use the technology)? Both are not competitions. They are events just to encourage children to participate.
Hope to receive a good response!
This August 2016, India will be celebrating 70th Independence Day!
This is a time to retrospect, reflect and rethink our old, outdated attitudes, to be free from prejudices and emerge independent in our views & judgements. What is independence?
Freedom of thought, movement, speech, religion, equal opportunities, no discrimination, fulfillment of our rights, so on & so forth.
Keeping all this in mind, efforts are being made in the right direction with regards to people with disabilities.Unlike western countries,
we are lagging far far behind in providing appropriate infrastructure, facilities to people with special needs. But recently launched Accessible India Campaign(Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan - http://accessibleindia.gov.in), will unfold a different story.
Advancement in Technology & accessibility is making people with disabilities be included in the society.
This month, we will also be celebrating Raksha Bandhan. Lot of sheltered workshops will be making & selling rakhis made by their students. Do get in touch with some of these organisations or with us to get them. You will be making a difference to these organisations!
Also we will be celebrating Dahi Handi this month. We only hope that there are less accidents & less incidents of head injury due to dahi handi. The team spirit which is needed to reach any goal is imbibed which is actually expected when dahi handi was played by Lord Krishna & his friends.
Happy Indepence Day to All! Jai Hind!!
We are presenting a well researched thought provoking article "Äfter me who will care" by Captain Srirang Bijur
After celebrating days for Mothers & Fathers in the months of May & June, we could not stop thinking about the testing times for Parents with Special children. As soon as they’re born, subconsciously, each and every parent with a Special Child (Esp. mentally challenged or with autism who is not fully independent) thinks about the life of their kid after them.
Though Life Care Centres/ Residential ,Institutional care is an option very few parents will opt for the same. In India, institutionalizing your child is not thought of so easily still. Most of the time, this issue is not at all dealt, unless one is forced with, for various reasons. The reasons may be manifold. It may involve healh, physical well being of both parent & the adolescent/adult person with special needs.Then there may be financial, emotional reasons , so on and so forth.
Presently, we at ChildRaise are busy updating our data base for our every section. Many of the calls that we receive on our DISHA- Disability Helpline & Action enquire for life care centres. So we have prepared an updated list. While doing so, we could not help noticing that when we launched www.childraise.com in 2001, our list of Life Care Centres (Residential/ Institutional Care) had only 8-10 institutions for Mentally challenged & now it has gone up to 25.
We are presenting a well researched thought provoking article "Äfter me who will care" by Captain Srirang Bijur. He & his wife Mrs. Anjali Bijur who is a special educator, have been rehabilitating children for past many decades & have first hand experience of the subject. This article will give parents a better & deeper insight of the subject.
Read articale - After Me Who Will Care by Captain Srirang Bijur.
This June we celebrate Father's Day , Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Day & Helen Keller's Birthday!
June is the month of school reopening. Besides school schedules, we also have to mark our calendars in June for Father's Day Celebration on Sunday 19th, SCI Awareness Day on 25th & Helen Keller's Birthday on 27th June.
Father's Day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June in most of the countries. It is a day to not only honour your father, but all men who act as a father figure. Usually, when a child has special needs, the mother is 24x7 present with the child. The father seems to hang around in the background. It is observed that when a father plays an active role in the child's life, the progress is remarkable, the child is more secure & happy. I have come across few Dads who have done wonders for their child with special needs. Their involvement is total. I have the privilege to know Mr. Nagesh Ghadi, Prasad Ghadi's father who always took up night shifts since Prasad's birth to look after him during daytime because Prasad's mother is a teacher in a day school & used to take care of Prasad's needs at night. Prasad had Spinal Muscular Atrophy & needed constant attention & care.Prasad is no more but Mr. Ghadi continues to counsel & motivate other parents of special needs children especially fathers to be equally involved in their child's life.
Some of the special Dads have done some pioneering work in the field of disability. We have Dr. Dholakia who has initiated & continues to do great work for the Association of Welfare of Mentally Handicapped (AWMH) & several other committees. Late Mr. Damodar Tilak's book - 'For A Secure Tomorrow' in Finance section stands as a testimony of his lifelong commitment & involvement. We salute to all Dads who take active interest in the life of their child & make their family life complete & enriched.They shatter the stereotype, myth of fathers being passive & uninvolved in the child's life.
Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Awareness Day is also celebrated on 25th of June. Exemplary work in SCI field is done by Nina Foundation (Founder- Prof.Ketna Mehta) whose vision is to spread optimism & work towards rehabilitation of SCI person inspite of SCI. For more information log on to www.ninafoundation.org
When we talk of winning the battles against all odds, one can not help but remember Helen Keller. June 27th is her birthday. Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama-USA, in 1880, Helen Keller developed a fever at 18 months of age that rendered her blind and deaf. With the help of a miracle teacher, Anne Sullivan, she learned sign language & Braille. Later on in life, she became a tireless advocate for people with disabilities. Helen Keller is the symbol of hope. She is the guiding force to many who are striving to inch ahead in spite of insurmountable odds. She spells the path from impossible to possible. Her words will always inspire & show us the light...
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow."
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
"When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another."
This May, celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday, 8th & GAAD- Global Accessibility Awareness Day on 19 th.
We are in the midst of a very warm summer and in the month that warmly celebrates Motherhood and honours Mothers all over the world. This year, we shall celebrate it on 8th May. I humbly dedicate this editorial to all mothers.
MAY is also a happening and busy month for me, with vacations in full swing and parents requesting me for extra coaching/remedial sessions so that their children can make up for the lag. During the course of my teaching sessions I have come across so many wonderful mothers. Childraise takes this opportunity to salute them through this piece. It is moving to see them struggling & juggling with their daily chores, taking their child from one therapy session to another which hardly leaves them with any time for themselves. A mother gives up her independence, freedom, so that her child can be an independent adult. She casts her aspirations and desires aside....yet her child's smallest achievement, development fills her with pride. She is ready to go that extra mile just to see her special one smile.
So true are the following lines written in praise of them:
"The mother-child relationship is paradoxical. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother, and to become fully independent".
On 19 th , we will be celebrating #GAAD- Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The dictionary meaning of "Accessibility" is handiness: the quality of being at hand when needed. When we think of a Mother this is the first characteristic which comes to one's mind. She is always Accessible.But this is very true that "A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary...". Similarly, the infrastructure, technology, websites etc. need to be Accessible for a person with special needs for him to be independent in life.
On this occasion, to mark #GAAD, We are proud to relaunch our www.childraise.com with accessible features, userfriendly design. Happy Summer Vacations!
April is Autism Awareness Month --Shine a Light on Autism! Let's Light It Up Blue #LIUB
April 2nd 2016 is the ninth annual World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD). To mark this day, thousands of people are coming together to Light It Up Blue. Join Autism Speaks (www.LightItUpBlue.org), Action for Autism, Forum for Autism in India & also other organisations working for Autism to Light It Up Blue and help shine a light on Autism! Autism awareness is more important than ever. Why the need is more now?Autism is the third most common developmental disorder. Forum for Autism (FFA), a parent Support Group from Mumbai for families of children having Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD) says that when they started out about 1 in 1500 persons, was diagnosed with ASD. Today they find the ratio to be gone up to 1 in every hundred. It is alarming. This increase can only be addressed by early intervention, improved diagnosis and growing awareness. Please join our efforts and support Autism Awareness. Kindly go through our online campaign"Ought to know Autism".
ChildRaise Celebrates.... Purple Day for Epilepsy Awareness on 26th March
This month we will be celebrating Purple Day for Epilepsy. For us this is the big event because there are very few organisations who focus on epilepsy in India. The statistics say that one person in every 100 has epilepsy. Though it is so prevalent, we still have so much stigma attached to it.
We are India partners with www. purpleday.org to spread epilepsy awareness & not to fear epilepsy. Cassidy Megan started her mission at the very tender age , now a teenager, her initiative has spread to other parts of the world.Anita Kaufmann Foundation has joined her in this mission & taken epilepsy awareness on a very intense level. Their tagline is Purple Day EveryDay. True to their words they are wonderfully creating awareness 365 days of the year.Do log on to www.purpledayeveryday.org
We do have regular readers who visit our website/social networking page to find out which Day will be celebrated in the current month & they all wholeheartedly support it.This month we have approached eminent neurologists,support group & rehabilitation activists working in the field of epilepsy & requested them to share their knowledge, experiences, latest developments.
Five successful years of operating 'DISHA'- Disability Helpline & Action, our Toll-free No. being 1800-22-1203.
We are proud to announce that we have completed Five successful years of operating 'DISHA'- Disability Helpline & Action, our Toll-free No. being 1800-22-1203.
We made an announcement of our telephone helpline on the International Day for the Persons with Disability(1203-Dec 3rd) in 2010 & started our operations on February 15th 2011. Past five years have been very fulfilling for us. Many organisations , professionals have joined us as Knowledge & Area Partners broadening our knowledge & expertise.
Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is a milestone event. Along with our staunch supporters, new supporters also joined in & participated in the Half Marathon & Dream Run for ChildRaise this year on 18th January. It was an amazing experience for all of us! We will be uploading the snaps soon in our Photo Gallery.
New collaborations, lot of new ideas , new projects are taking shape in the minds of ChildRaise Team. Shortly, we will let you all about it...Till then .. We are keeping our fingers crossed!
Happy New Year !
The year 2015 is over and 2016 is already here... Wishing you All a Very Happy New Year!
It means Celebrations, Fresh Beginnings & New Initiatives !
Usually we are in the celebration mode from Dec 3rd itself because it happens to be International Day for Persons with Disabilities.This year it will be still more special because ChildRaise turns 15! www.childraise.com was launched in 2001.So we have the experience of 1over 150 updations, creating more & more user-friendly features for ChildRaise website,a recent addition www.access.childraise.com with accessible features for visitors with visual impairment & learning disability . The hits per month & unique visitors to the website have steadily increased over the years & now crossing 5000. The journey has been exciting.
Our new year has begun on a positive note. We have received a call from a student who is visually impaired that he has completed & topped his teacher training course with educational grant from ChildRaise. We will continue to provide medical & educational support to those who can not afford. This year we have also resolved that we will be making more orientation material for parents.
In our decade plus journey, wonderful people have joined, supported and encouraged us. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts & pray that let this wonderful journey continues. In this New Year let all your dreams come true!