An interview with Ms. Poonam Natrajan, founder and chairperson of VidyaSagar (formerly known as Spastic Society of India), Chennai.

Can you tell us how you started the organisation?

I started the Spastic Society of India in 1985 from my garage and now it has branches in different cities of India. This is a parents' movement, started by them for children with cerebral palsy. Now we are slowly expanding to cover various other neurological disorders.

I wanted to set up a multi-disciplinary centre where speech therapy, physiotherapy, and education were provided under one roof. Earlier, all special education institutions functioned more like crhches, just providing food, clothes and shelter. We however, aim at empowering the disabled to become independent and go out into the community and lead a better quality of life.

These people suffer from being marginalized both by society and their family. When a doctor diagnoses such a disability in a child, he or she is automatically devoid of opportunities and at times even their existence is not acknowledged. We have evolved a system wherein the family is enabled to handle the needs of the disabled child using all the resources available. Previously, the family was quite alienated from the training program of the child. We have managed to train a lot of mothers from various sections of society and motivate parents to treat the child as they would treat their normal, able child.

What were the problems you faced in the initial stages?

One of the major problems we faced was the shortage of trained therapists. Initially, a four-year therapy course would have only two lectures in cerebral palsy. So most therapists when they came to us knew very little about the disorder and we had to train them on the job. We did have some very good therapists who worked with us, but most left for the U.S. for higher studies and jobs.

Most of the special educators in India are trained after the 10th standard, and as a parent myself; I found that it they were too young to start working with the children, as one requires a certain level of maturity and understanding.

In time you started your own PG course in special education, can you tell us something about it?

When we started our training course we decided that we would only take in graduates. One important feature we look for is that they should be motivated to work with disabled children, mature to handle crisis situations and develop reading habits and research for questioning. They should also believe in the potential that lies within the disabled, which they have to discover and develop. If the special educators themselves are not motivated enough to work with the disabled and help them discover their talents then the disabled don't have a chance.

The special education course is not just about teaching reading and writing, its about slowly drawing out the disabled person from their shell and encouraging him to actively participate in the activities of the community and become independent. Rather than concentrating on the disability we teach our students to find out what these people can do and how to develop those skills.

How viable is special education as a career option?

Now a days special education has become a very competitive career with good remuneration. Educators have the choice of working with an NGO or can be hired as private tutors. There are good chances of going abroad for further studies on scholarship. Things are more professional now and many educators have made a successful career in this field.

The concept of including these specially gifted children in regular schools is finding acceptance and if it becomes more prevalent then each and every school will be employing special educators.

How has the attitude of people changed over the years?

Whenever a doctor refers a child to us, we explain to the parents that it is not going to be a one-time visit but that our association with the child is going to last for 12 years. People are beginning to realise that this disability is not just a disease, which needs to be cured. It is not just a medical problem, its more of a social problem which needs inputs from various quarters of society to solve it.

Now the attitudes are changing, people treat them with more concern but the attitude of low expectation has not yet changed. The disabled are able to live an independent life, hold a job, get married and have a life of their own in western countries. In India, but getting them married is a major social problem especially if its a disabled woman.

What are the chances of employment for these people?

There is a three percent reservation in the job sector, but these are only for the marginally disabled. According to the People's Disability Act passed in 1995, the disabled can only be employed in certain 'identified' jobs . Moreover, these reservations did not include the higher category jobs, as it was automatically concluded that a disabled person would not be able to perform in them.

What we are saying is that when there is a reservation, call for applications, conduct interviews, fill the openings but don't discriminate on the nature of disability. If you find the disabled person competent enough to do the job then don't reject him on the disability factor.

MALINI SURYANARAYANAN

maalini.mds@careercommunity.co.in