“What’s the point, Apa? He is not a whole person, and he isn’t going anywhere in life. Why bother sending him to school?” More than shocking, this statement sounded outright unacceptable to me at first. Being a mother myself, I had difficulty acknowledging the fact that any mother could have such an “all-practical, divorced-from-emotions” outlook – be it for a healthy child, or a differently-abled one. But then I understood.
According to WHO and the World Bank, about 15% of the world population is differently-abled, and 90% of them live in developing countries. Just in Bangladesh, around 3.4 million children and 10.2 million adults are differently-abled, or as colloquially termed – with disability. Disability can be of various types, ranging from mild to medium to severe to profound, affecting neurodevelopment (autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, and Down syndrome), physical development, speech or visual development, and so on.
Needless to say, whatever is the level of one’s disability, they face tenacious stigma and social exclusion in addition to their persistent physical or mental challenges. If life is hard for differently-abled adults, we can only imagine what it could be like for children. Their parents become tired, frustrated, and hopeless. Most of them lack financial and other resources to cope with the situation. It is almost inconceivable how burdened and helpless they feel, and therefore resort to a resigned acceptance of fate.
While the scenario cannot be changed overnight, some strapping initiatives have been taken to improve the lives of those with impairment. Brac’s disability-inclusive development approach is one of them.
We already have a legal framework within which the rights of differently-abled people are supposed to be ensured and protected. Bangladesh has laws that clearly state their entitlements, and lay out a number of affirmative actions intended to ensure those. In a similar but more applied course of action, a few NGOs approach this issue with need-based interventions.
Brac attempts to integrate differently-abled people through a number of ways. To reach out and assist people with disability, specific operations have been designed and carefully coordinated that target a varied range from children to adults, so that no particular stratum is left out.
The Children with Special Needs (CSN) component under Brac’s Education Program was established in 2003. The objective is to provide a chance of having a better life to children with disability, and realise their potential otherwise constrained by physical or mental impairment. Brac has ensured education for 178,921 differently-abled children so far. Each Brac school takes at least one differently-abled child every year.
Amongst the current 40,000 differently-abled children that are studying in Brac schools, 8,266 are visually impaired (mild and medium), 18,102 are with speech impairment, 3,665 are with hearing impairment, and 3,437 are differently-impaired children. 18 profound visually-challenged or blind students are receiving education in Braille methods in 16 Brac schools.
The CSN unit first identifies children with special needs, who get priority admission to Brac pre-primary and primary schools. Once admitted, they then get special attention in the classroom. They are usually placed in the front, and each is paired with another student who could help them learn with comfort and speed. Brac also provides corrective surgeries, along with devices like wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids, and glasses. To make the classrooms easily accessible to children with disabilities, Brac has changed the infrastructure accordingly, such as ramps with railing, boards with coloured borders, etc.
For kids with neurodevelopment challenges, the health and education programs of Brac have jointly opened two Neurodevelopmental Disability (NDD) Centres in urban slums of Dhaka and Pabna with 41 students. Not only for education, but for a holistic development of body and mind, CSN unit of Brac makes sure that the children of the centres participate in sports and cultural activities. As a result, they have successfully appeared on cultural events aired in prominent channels like BTV and ATN.
In a developing country like ours, inclusion in mainstream education maybe a necessity, but not really a sufficient condition towards a better life. The Skills Training for Advancing Resources (STAR) initiative of Brac focuses on adolescents and tries to enhance their livelihood skills through need-based, demand-driven trainings. 10% of the STAR participants are differently-abled who receive materials and training to become as self-dependent as possible, and lead less challenging lives as adults.
The youth are our future, but what about the present differently-abled adults? One of Brac’s largest operations is its Microfinance program. Through an informal study, the program found out that about 3,000 of its clients are with disability of some kind or the other. To cater to their needs in a more structured and effective way, Brac Microfinance joined hands with the Centre for Rehabilitation for the Paralysed (CRP) in 2011.
CRP screens out those who come for rehabilitation and identifies if obtaining a loan would pave their path to a sustainable, income-generating situation, and then connects them to Brac’s Microfinance program.
The program provides a customised set of services or loans, and also facilitates their access to Brac’s other services. For the last three years, the average savings account balance has been $125 for each client, none of whom has defaulted any loan. The majority of the clients have become entrepreneurs – owning and operating grocery stores, tea stalls, and small vending businesses.
It is without any doubt a difficult task. A concerted effort is needed to bring social justice to this physically challenged and socially excluded group. While aiding them with skills and resources, we need to work on our perception too. We need to see them as contributing members of our society. Parents, family members, service providers, and such others should realise their potential and be hopeful. Only then, a mother will have the confidence to call her child a “whole” person.
