At the Pathway Vocational Excellence Awards function on Saturday, the message given out was that a disability is no deterrent to being independent and financially self-sufficient.
Persons with mental disabilities, who won in many award categories, were engaged in a host of vocational activities, ranging from screen printing to glove-making for use in the automobile industry. A.D.S.N. Prasad, founder-director of Pathway centres for rehabilitation and education of the mentally retarded, said work done by persons with mental disabilities, by and large, did not get recognised.
“We visited some centres engaged in vocational training in Chennai and Kancheepuram, and identified high performers for the award,” he said.
There were two individual and group awards for those carrying out a vocation independently, and also an excellence award for a person who was successfully mainstreamed, said Mr. Prasad.
Founders of the Clarke School for the Deaf, Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children, Ramana Sunritya Aalaya and Swabodhini School for Special Children were also awarded.
Awards were also given to 65 persons from 14 organisations.
B. Valarmathi, minister for social welfare and nutritious noon meal programme, P. Sivasankar, principal secretary, department for welfare of differently-abled persons, and K. Manivasan, State commissioner for the differently abled, were among those present.