For a better tomorrow

Australian volunteers have been sprucing up the campuses of Spastics Society of Tiruchirapalli schools in Tiruchi and Musiri with innovative projects

Kristy Tomlinson (extreme right) with some of her fellow Australian healthcare volunteers painting the mural at the Spastics Society’s school in Tiruchi. Photo: M. Srinath/ THE HINDU

Kristy Tomlinson apologises for her sticky hands when we meet her at the campus of the Spastics Society of Tiruchirapalli (SST); as the leader of a group of 19 volunteers from the Australian organisation Equal Health, she has been spending most of the week painting a mural depicting marine life on the first level of the institution’s ramp.

“We hope the children will be inspired to know more about the creatures that we have shown in our painting, and also perhaps be motivated to walk and explore the pictures at their own pace,” says Kristy, a Speech Pathology graduate who is the Vice Chair of Equal Health, based in Perth, and also the India coordinator for Go Global, an initiative of the Curtin University in Western Australia that encourages students to work in partnership with local health staff in countries such as South Africa, India, Ukraine, and China, to offer direct health services to those in need.

Across boundaries

• Kristy Tomlinson, pictured above, has been volunteering in India (in Tiruchi and Kolkata) for over 20 years. “In healthcare, soft skills like communication, teamwork, client-centric service and safety are harder to learn than something technical like how to mobilise a limb or control the body. Cross-cultural partnerships like these help our students and professionals to become more attuned to the patient’s requirements,” says Kristy.
• She has observed that Indian parents tend to be more involved in the rehabilitation programmes for their children with special needs. “Perhaps we could persuade Australian parents to follow their example, and have a greater personal role in their differently-abled children’s lives,” she says.
• In fact attitudinal challenges will be the focus of her PhD thesis on ‘parental self-efficacy,’ that she plans to commence next year. “While working with the needy in Kolkata, I noticed that the parents there all had dreams for a better life for their children, despite their poverty. In contrast, when I worked with Australian parents from a lower socio-economic area, who had access to welfare programmes, and were wealthier than the Indians, I found that they had very few hopes for the success of their children.”
• Her thesis will examine how attitudes and aspirations are shaped among parents. “My thesis will try to ascertain whether we can recreate the Indian optimism in Australia,” she says.

The Equal Health volunteers have been offering their services to four projects for children with special needs in Tiruchi and Musiri. The work will be continued by a student team of Go Global in November, followed by another Equal Health group in February 2020.

New ideas

The marine life mural is the beginning of a project that will eventually cover land, air and space, through the different floor levels of the ramp. “Our children are very excited to see the colourful pictures. What was a plain wall before has become a vibrant conversation starter every day,” says C Shanthakumar, director of SST. The mural is just one of the many projects that the Equal Health volunteers have been carrying out in recent weeks.

Diploma course

• The Spastics Society of Tiruchirapalli is offering a 2-year Diploma in Special Education (Cerebral Palsy), recognised by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) at its Revival Nagar campus. The medium of instruction is in English and Tamil. Class 12 graduates with a 50% pass mark are eligible to apply for the course. Preference will be given to those who are already working in the field of disability. Class intake is limited to 25 students, with a fee of Rs. 15,000 per year. Hostel facility is available for women students. More details may be had from (Tel) 0431-2772001.

At the SST’s branch campus in Musiri, the Australians have cleared the rubble from the compound so that children can spend time out in the open.

Volunteers have created specially angled chairs that help children with weak pharyngeal muscles (common in cerebral palsy), to swallow food without it getting misdirected to the windpipe.

“We are creating a poster that explains the different stages of walking for children with special needs and their carers. We want to show them that the process of learning to walk is a continuum,” says Kristy.

Reaching out

With more outdoor activities being planned at the school, the volunteers have created a mobile ‘Sensory Cube’, a wheeled wooden frame whose four sides have objects to stimulate auditory, visual, tactical and fine and gross motor skills.

When asked how the team communicated with their hosts, Kristy responds gingerly with “En Tamil romba mosam,” but adds that they were helped by staff and students who acted as interpreters, besides plain gesturing.

Since SST uses Avaz communication technology in its classrooms, one of the speech therapists on the Equal Health team took online lessons from a Chennai-based Avaz expert before coming to Tiruchi. “She is creating a communication board that could be high-tech (with a touchpad screen) or something simpler like a wall poster with words that indicate a child’s needs and wants. We have also planned to include children who cannot point at objects, with an eye-gaze board, where the eye’s movements will show what they need,” explains Kristy.

Volunteers of Equal Health with special needs children of the Spastics Society school campus in Musiri. Photo: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

People back home often ask Kristy why she prefers to help needy children abroad rather than in Australia. “My answer is that we live in a global society and I’d like to serve the children of the whole world. Besides, I love India!” she smiles.

Her final takeaway from this year’s stint in Tiruchi? “I have learned that nothing is impossible when 19 people work with local residents and a positive attitude,” says Kristy.