Vitiligo is not leprosy. Though incurable, it is a genetic disease and not contagious. Hence, societal isolation of people with this skin order, caused by internal process, is meaningless.
This is the message a group of four Chennai-based philanthropists has been transmitting to student community in particular and the public at large, through a bicycle campaign, since October 11.
Their campaign was flagged off by Nityanand, Founder of Vettiver Collective – a social organisation, and representatives of Rotary Club of Madras Mount.
Isai Prakash 23, Freelance Lecturer; and his companions Rathnavel, Dharmaraj and Rajagopal, all in their early twenties, have been covering 80 to 100 km a day, spending at least an hour in a school or a college to hold workshops.
The quartet chose bicycle campaign to reach out to as many people as possible. They meet the general public at street corners and distribute pamphlets for awareness creation.
Having purchased the geared bicycles specifically for this purpose out of their own money, they have, more or less, funded the campaign themselves.
On an average, they spend frugally for food, shelling out Rs. 100 per person a day, again from their own pockets.
The group has come across 23 persons, 17 of them students, with the skin disorder during the course of their campaign so far in seven to eight districts, including Kanchipuram, Vellore, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Salem. Awareness about the facts of vitiligo is vital among school managements as many do not admit students with the disorder thinking of it as leprosy. In fact, two to three per cent of the State’s population have this disorder for which no cure has been found so far.
The disorder could surface right from a young age.
In extreme cases, people finding themselves isolated in the society even commit suicide. The fact is that such a reaction is unnecessary, and people realising the reality of the disorder would be able to lead normal lives.
Counselling
Psychological counselling is available for people suffering the disorder that spreads gradually. It is not at all a big issue, says Isai Prakash, informing that the State-wide campaign was likely to end during the first week of December.
‘Awareness about vitiligo is vital among school managements as many do not admit students with the disorder thinking of it as leprosy’
