Institutions

Dehradun

Mysore

Dehradun: National Institute for Visually Handicapped

The founding fathers of modern India envisaged her as a welfare State where the interests and rights of the weaker and under-privileged sections of society would be fully protected and upheld. This principle is also embodied in the Directive principles of the State Policy in our Constitution.

The Government of India has been consistently promoting the interests of handicapped persons who are one of the most under-privileged sections of the society. One of the major steps in this regard was the setting up in 1979 of four national Institutes for each category of the handicapped like visually handicapped, orthopaedically handicapped, hearing and mentally retarded.

These institutes which are controlled by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment of the Union Government provided facilities for research, training documentation and consultancy union their respective fields.

One of these four institutes in the National Institute for Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Dehradun in Uttaranchal. In 1943, an organization known as 'Saint Dustans Hostel' for the war-blinded was set up in Dehradun. Its main purpose was to offer training facilities to the soldiers blinded in the Second World War. The Union Ministry of Education took over the Siant Dustans Hostel on 1st January, 1950 and renamed it as 'Training Centre for the Adult Blind'.

The Institute runs a variety of programmes providing training to adult blind, education to blind children, equipments and textbooks to the visually handicapped and the supply of books in Braille and cassettes on loan. It also runs a wide variety of staff training programmes and research and development projects.

The training centre for the adults blind attached to this institute provides training to adults blind (men and women) in vocational trades like light engineering operations, Dictaphone typing, Braille stenography, chair, caning, bag making, candle making, chalk making, knitting (hand and machine) etc., apart from imparting training in Braille music, orientation and mobility and home-management. About 2000 blind men and women have successfully completed their training at the centre in the last three years. The Model School attached to this institute provides free education to blind boys and girls from pre-school stage to class X. The school is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education. Apart from running a Central Braille press, the Institute also has a Braille appliance manufacturing division.

Source: Empowering the handicapped. Assam Tribune, Guwahati, 7 April 2006.

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Mysore: All-India Institute of Speech and Hearing

Sign language could soon be losing its prominence as communication tool among the hearing-impaired. Technology and therapy are giving the disadvantaged children a chance to lead a normal life, go to regular school and live their dreams just like any child of their age.

"If the child is detected with hearing and speech abnormalities in the first year itself, it is possible to teach them the association of sound, either by surgery or technological aid, A small fraction of children will need to be taught sign language", said Dr Jayaram, director of Mysore-based All-India Institute of Speech and Hearing. A visit to the institute is an eve-opener; classroom after another children are learning their first syllable, joining them to make words and associate those sounds to communicate.

The one of its kind institute in Asia has focused on teaching pre-school children to overcome their disabilities by speech therapy. Some learn to associate words through hearing aid, others learn to learn to speak simple words. "If they come to the centre early enough, these children are confident of joining schools like any other children of their age. Their disability does not come in the way of their academic progress, "Dr Jayaram said. Not just children, adults who have suffered serious disability after stroke also are re-trained for the faculties they might have lost.

"While we can help overcome cases, if there is brain damage there are limitations on how much can be taught," Dr Jayaram further said. To begin with, the therapy is available in Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and English. The institute now wants to develop learning material for other Indian languages. Encouraged by their success, the Health Ministry proposes a National Programme for Deafness Prevention. This year, a regional centre is likely to come up in Northeast, either in Shillong or Guwahati. Plans are afoot to open speech and hearing centres in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

The institute has started a certificate course for those who can provide care for disabled children, like mothers, anganwadi workers and teachers. The 14-week distance education module is followed by a fortnight of practical experience at the institute. Besides, research on rehabilitation for the disabled, the institute also develops technology to decrease dependence on import.

Source: Not a silent world for speech disabled children. The Pioneer, Lucknow, 3 April 2006.

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