Support excluded kids with disabilities in India

In 2015, we received a legacy from one of our late supporters which allowed us to begin the funding of this new and innovative project. The project has been very successful and we have a waiting list of children who would love to benefit if we can raise additional funds to expand our work. Your support is essential to make this happen.

While reports estimate there are 80-90 million disabled people in India, most remain invisible and unregistered. Less than 1% of disabled children go to school in India.  These are children like Supriti, one of the beneficiaries of our project. When Supriti was 3 months old, doctors told her mother,Swagata, what no parent would want to hear- that her daughter would never walk, talk or hear.

Swagata had no idea what to do for her daughter, who was born with severe developmental difficulties. Living in a rural community in West Bengal, she knew that she could never afford the medicine and physiotherapy the doctors prescribed - she could barely afford the 100 rupees ($1.40) rickshaw into the city to visit the hospital that day.

Supriti's only good fortune was that her parents were loving people who were committed to taking care of her as well as possible. Many children like her are often locked away, malnourished and under-stimulated, sometimes even seriously abused.

Instead, when her husband went to work in the city at a bolt-making factory to provide for the family and her other daughter went to school, Swagata stayed at home looking after their daughter and the household.

In their small, mud-walled and one-roomed home, the family shared a single bed. Each morning, Swagata would wake and clean the sheets - Supriti was also incontinent. She would make food for the family, collect firewood and fetch water. This gruelling work forced her to regularly leave Supriti's side, unable to protect her in case she had one of her many seizures. In time, isolated and exhausted, she began to lose hope.

"I used to pray that she might be a normal child," Swagata told us, "That she might play, walk, talk or go to school. I always asked: 'why am I being punished?'"

Karuna is committed to providing support to the people most excluded and vulnerable. We believe that children like Supriti should not be left behind. This is why, upon hearing about the family's situation, a social worker from our project visited, offering to enrol Supriti into our project.

One year on, their lives are profoundly different.

Our project, "Bhalbosa", which means "loving home", provides a supportive, stimulating daycare environment for children with disabilities and their parents. A ground-breaking project, it offers otherwise inaccessible assessments and care from trained physical and speech therapists.

In addition to therapy, children and parents get the stimulation and connection they so need. Supriti plays with other children, is taught classes and has physiotherapy classes. And, as the project also helps parents reclaim transport allowances from the government, she can come three times a week.

Supriti's friend Munisha, is another child with learning difficulties. She is very fond of Supriti. Munisha's mother and Supriti's mother have become friends too. "Knowing there is someone out there who is like me and has a daughter like me gives me courage."