_______________________

 

 

 

Editorial

            Ashoke Chowdhury

 

‘Inner Eye’ focuses inner vision of the visually impaired, but this edition is a new inclusion in our magazine the phases of deaf-blind children. Recently, The Society for the Visually Handicapped (SVH) conducted a two day workshop on Sensitization Programme of Deaf-Blindness hold on 3rd and 4th November, 2006. It was indeed a unique workshop where my humble self was invited to be present. In fact I learnt so many things regarding the deaf-blind, which were unknown to me. I could not have been benefited from the knowledge, if I missed the opportunity of attending the workshop.

Thanks to Dr. Ruma Chatterjee and our beloved Miss Hena Basu, Honorary Secretary of SVH. The workshop was oriented with so many special educators who contributed so many information related to the education and sensitization of deaf-blind.

I felt on attending the workshop, that there should be a special school for the deaf-blind in our state, because the problems of the deaf-blind are more acute that those of the visually challenged children. I shall leave no stone unturned to translate my desire to reality, if I receive guidance and assistance from The Society of the Visually Handicapped (SVH), a dedicated organization, which has been catering guidance and training to the normal persons as well as visually impaired for last 23 years.

I wish every success and glory of this organization for the advancement and development of awareness around the society regarding the visually challenged and the deaf-blind children.

             --------------
 

Awareness on Deaf-Blindness

Dr. Ruma Chatterjee

Vice President

 

There is little awareness on deaf-blindness in the developing countries. The number of people affected with deaf-blindness is not known. It is also not known where are they or what happens to them. In India we do not have any research or survey conducted regarding the population of persons with deaf-blindness. But Community Based Rehabilitation Projects have hinted that there might be around 450000 people with dual sensory/multi-sensory losses.

When a child is affected with deaf-blindness/Multi-sensory impairment, it is not mentioned in the Disability Certificate issued by the hospital authority. This disability is not yet recognized by the Govt. of India as a separate category in the PWD Act, 1995.

This state of affairs result in lots of confusion not only for the parents but also for the NGOs/institutions to have a proper understanding of the sensory losses and the unique needs due to sensory losses. Parents as well as the institutions, which are and will be directly involved with the child, are not guided by the hospital authorities. Parents, in utter despair, run from hospitals to institutions primarily for the cure of their child. After several years of spending resources for cure/correction of the losses and with the passing of years they come to realize the situation and try to accommodate themselves with the state of affairs.

 

They do not know how to handle their loved one!

And proper intervention is not easy for them!

 

Problems faced by NGOs/institutions:

In Disability sector, most of us are experts in single disability. Although some of the institutions in Kolkata provide services to Multiple Disabled children in their Centre-based programmes, their focus is entirely on children affected with Cerebral Palsy having sensory impairment. These children require thorough functional assessment of their hearing and vision to undertake intervention. Most of these children do not get early intervention services due to their parents’ confusion or lack of understanding of their very special needs. Even when an intervention programme is initiated with the child and his/her parents, the child fails to access the services offered due to his long experience of isolation and being in a world of “invisible silence”!

It is frustrating for both the parents and teachers/Institutions working with the child!

 

Why the services for the DEAF-BLIND/MULTI-SENSORY impaired is not organized in our country?

 

From my long years of association with SVH and as Resource Person in Teacher training programmes of SSA  (WB), IICP, REACH and SANCHAR, and recently with SENSE INTERNATIONAL (INDIA) I feel certain shortcomings in the policy decisions at the Central Government level.

Deaf-blindness/Multi-sensory impairment is not included as a separate category in PWD Act, as also the case with Multiple Disability. But the last one is included in National Trust Act, 1999.

National Institutes catering to single disability do not cater to the needs of these children and no step have been taken for manpower development to address their special needs.

National Institute for Persons with Multiple Disability has started functioning in Chennai very recently. In future, we can expect that courses for teacher training would be initiated to cover up the need for trained professionals.

At present, RCI has given recognition to 2 Teacher training programmes on Deaf-blindness in the country, one at Helen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Deaf-blind, Mumbai, and the other one at Clarke School for the Deaf and Mentally Handicapped, Chennai. It is needless to say that the whole of Eastern India and the North east is lagging far behind western and southern India in capacity building to address the very special needs of the Deaf-blind/Multiple disabled children. No initiative has been taken up in the state of West Bengal. Even a B. Ed and M. Ed Course on Multiple Disability have not been offered here!

The Govt. of India has adopted a policy of “zero rejection” towards the children with special needs.

 

What would be the scenario at the implementation level?

 

A close study on Deaf-blindness reveals different categories of people with dual sensory loss. Among them, a sizable group falls within the categories of “Deaf with partial visual impairment” or “Blind with partial deafness”. Our contention is that--

No institution for the Blind/Deaf are yet equipped to handle any child/student having another sensory loss. 

This disability is of low incidence. Therefore, the probability of starting a separate institution for these children do not seem to be appropriate, considering the paucity of fund and trained teachers at the moment.

At the level of community/family, the situation is frustrating. In our country, acceptance of a child with single disability at the initial stage is still a rare one. Parents are often hesitant to speak of their child who has any kind of disability, whether the condition is mild or severe. They refuse to accept the unhappy state of affair as long as possible. Then imagine the parental reaction for a child with dual sensory loss!

The need for awareness and sensitization on deaf-blindness is therefore context specific! There is an urgent need to bridge the existing gap between Government functionaries, parents of deaf-blind children and service providers and that would only help a deaf-blind child to grow equally with his sighted-hearing sibling/peer!

 

Background of SVH involvement into deaf-blindness:

 

This is the scenario in our state. What happened when we were confronted with the challenge of providing service to a very young deaf-blind girl child in the year 2003? Within a month, another family was referred to us who had a deaf-blind boy. Initially we have tried our best to network with other institutions who run OPD and supposed to provide services to these children. One family did not respond the guidance provided from SVH centre. Another family maintained regular contact with us. On every occasion when the child was taken to the OPD, I personally was present on all these dates. This was a learning experience for me. Later on, we were referred to meet and guide other families having deaf-blind children. In this process we also came across 2 orphanages keeping disabled children. SVH had earlier worked with some blind children of Dayadan Home and successfully developed them to access education in Blind Schools. But observation and initial assessment of the children made me think otherwise.

Centre-based services are inappropriate for the deaf-blind children at the initial stage of intervention.

For undertaking early intervention programme, a Home-based approach would be ideal for these children. Then only the parents can also be trained to handle their child.

SVH was put in a big dilemma--whether to take up the challenge or to shut out our doors to the parents of the deaf-blind children. But confidence on SVH faculty and networking with partner institutions all over India gave us the impetus to take a stride forward.

Sense International (India) is the organization which works with deaf-blind people through its partners at different corners of the country. SVH came in contact with Sense from 2003 for awareness, sensitization and training on “Deaf-blindness”, and slowly developed its resources to provide services to children who are deaf-blind/multi-sensory impaired and multiple disabled with visual impairment (MDVI). We have traversed 3 years in this field of “Multiple Disability” and are providing early intervention services through Home-based approach to 22 children living with parents/siblings and at orphanages. 3 of SVH Educators were trained by SENSE at National Association for the Blind, Delhi. Of them 1 is now a trainee of Diploma Course on Deaf-blind Management at Helen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Deaf-blind, Mumbai (Course for 1 year). Presently we have 3 Special Educators and 2 trainee educators.

SVH had organized its first workshop on Deaf-blindness in February. It was a small one where teachers of SSA 24 Pgs (North and South), a few Special Schools for the Deaf and the Blind and NGO offering CBR services were invited. 2 of the institutions for the Blind expressed their concern for their students having hearing impairment. We met with the authorities later on and tried to work out intervention for those students. This is our approach to work jointly with other NGOs/Schools for the Deaf/Blind. We hope that this effort would help us all in developing our resources to deal with dual/multi-sensory impairment.

 

This is not easy, but achievable, if we want to!

             --------------

 

      4^th Annual Nature Study Camp

   of SVH at Lataguri, North Bengal

    Deepali Mukherjee, Member, SVH

 

On the 10th of February 2006 about 40 visually impaired children assembled at the Panchavati Forest Resort at lataguri, Jalpaiguri to attend a 3Day Nature Camp in the Gorumara Reserve Forest. This was organized by the Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation (HNAF), Siliguri for SVH and attended by the children, their special educators, many enthusiastic parents, volunteers and the Press and media people and last but not the least, adorned by the gracious presence of Sue Rogers from Bristol, and Lorraine Nicholson and Norma who is sightless, from Scotland.

The camp flag was raised by Mr. Bhutia, one of the higher authorities of North Bengal Reserve Forest and Animesh Bose on behalf of HNAF delivered the inaugural address while the children stood patiently and in perfect discipline in their respective group of Golap, Juin, Suryamukhi and Chandramallika. A few of the children are barely eight years old and little Surdas Muni, from Pakur is polio-affected. The area looked festive and colourful with tents pitched out and flags and streamers fluttering in the air and tall trees surrounding the area forming a natural enclosure to the resort.

Sue, Lorraine and Norma had brought wonderful teaching aids which were spread our on the grass and in a thatched hut vegetables, spices, rice, pulses etc. were arranged for identification as a shopping experience. With great enthusiasm the children were led group by group to touch and identify these objects.

There were adult blind persons like the couple Bachchan and Sujata Shau who together with Subhash De, an active member of Blind Opera, organized group participation through recitations and songs. Bachchan and Sujata are wonderful singers as Subhash and others kept the resort vibrant and lively. To hear the children singing joyously and lustily in unison was a thrilling experience. This musical communication in groups gave wonderful confidence to these visually impaired children.

Walking down the main road in single file queues to the Lataguri Wildlife Sanctuary was another effort to arouse their inner sensitivity and make them aware of the environment all around. Trekking through the jungle path covered with dry sal leaves rustling and crunching below feet was an experience beyond belief. Their pleasure could be seen in their eager and glowing faces. They touched and felt a life size model of a deer, its horns, ears, nose, tail and filled the void in their mind. The forest natural museum has pretty little turtles and the supervisors allowed the children to caress their shells. Camp chief J.K. taught them to be still and feel the breeze, the wind direction, the chirping and whistling of birds, the rustling of trees and leaves and the silence of the forest. The children embraced the tree trunks, branches and leaves to get a feel of nature.

On the second day, all the camp members were taken to the elephant Reserve area, a few kms away. The jungle, the sandy river bed, and balancing over bamboo bridges and trudging through the forest paths removed their barrier and they were at one with the sighted. For most of the children this was the first time they had been in a forest. A few could identify the parrot’s or cuckoo’s calls. The elephants were having their bath in the Murti river with their mahoots. Later sitting on the forest grass all the members were given the chance to touch and feel the food parcels which were fed to the elephants. A few were led to feel and touch the elephants trunk, legs, body, etc. giving a concrete shape to the famous poem of the six blind men feeling each part of the elephant and each coming to a conclusion. The forest Ranger Mr. Bimal Debnath narrated his knowledge and experience of wild life and forest to the immense delight of all those assembled--children as well as grown ups.

On the 3rd day we observed slight change in the children. They had opened out a lot and their confidence had definitely increased. Subhash was the moving spirit of the group activity and frequently gave a cheerful call and the children were instantly aroused and inspired and joined in with chorus chantings. The kids were happy moving in a dizzy rapture on the merry-go-round or on the see-saw.

Some of the children were introduced to Braille writing and identification of objects. The most beautiful sight was when all sitting on the grass, having their meals, carrying their plates and glasses for washing and cleaning. The last night camp-fire was a blast, what with logs burning, Bachchan and Sujata leading and the groups singing lustily, Subhash compering the events with such proficiency, Sue narrating a story with action and other interesting items by the participants. The owner of the Panchavati Resort in spite of his busy schedule attended the camp fire and the fun seemed unending. But all good things must come to an end. And the camp fire ambers died down.

The final day saw the flag being lowered by Sue and tearful farewells to newly acquainted friends with the hope of another nature camp in the coming year. The kids were filled with an awareness of the rich environment in the world outside with which they were able to establish contact and be a part of this visible world, using their other senses of touch, hearing, smell, and taste to make up the deficiency of sight.

 

             --------------

 

Project Deaf-blind:

        Issues and Perspectives

 Mandira Sarkar (Joint Secretary SVH)

 

In January 2004, when Dr. Ruma Chatterjee, vice-president, Society for the Visually Handicapped, went to visit Souvik at his home in Rajpur, it was more than the mere experience of meeting a nine-year-old deaf-blind boy it was confronting a new question; encountering a new challenge. This new challenge gave a new dimension to our outlook and brought about a major reorientation of our activities.

Since its inception in 1983, Society for the Visually Handicapped has been striving ceaselessly for the successful and meaningful integration of visually impaired persons. In this endeavor our main tool was educational support, in the form of production of Braille books, talking books and counseling. Throughout all these years, we have provided these services out of a voluntary zeal. While we passionately cling to this mode of operation in our services to the visually impaired, we also recognize that as far as children like Souvik and Sushmita are concerned, the problem needs to be addressed from a different persrective.

It is a painful revelation that parents of deaf-blind children often mistake their children as mentally retarded and thrust them into a vegetative existence. They have to be trained first in the daily living skills so that they can lead a dignified life with minimum assistance from others. With this end in view, Society for the Visually Handicapped has focused its attention on deaf-blindness and worked out an intervention strategy primarily based on home visits. Mainstreaming of deaf-blind children through home based programme demands fulltime effort which cannot be met through voluntary service. Because people rendering voluntary service, are more often than not, employed elsewhere and hence cannot afford that full time effort. So we had to look beyond voluntary service and seek salaried professional educators to implement our objective.

The home based deaf-blind intervention programme of SVH had started since November 2004, when under the leadership of Dr. Ruma Chatterjee, Tapasi Nandi, a Special Educator started working with Souvik. In December of the same year, SVH, at the request of the authorities of Nava Jeevan Shishu Greh, an orphanage, took up the responsibility of four children with multi-sensory impairment. In July 2005, Sushmita Adhikari, living in Nepalgunge area was brought within the fold of our home based programme. Another Special Educator, Pialy Basu, had joined us by that time, and she began working with Sushmita. In January 2006, Dr. Ruma Chatterjee and her team of Special Educators visited Dayadan Missionaries of Charities Home and identified 13 children with severe multi sensory impairment who required intervention. There was hardly any choice before us; we had to accommodate Dayadan in our home based programme. Meanwhile our faculty was strengthened by the joining of two more Special Educators: Mitalee Nandi and Ila Dey. We are thankful to Sense International (India) for providing us with technical assistance in this work in the form of educating our educators with skills of teaching deaf-blind children at NAB, Delhi. At present we are looking forward to a partnership with Sense International (India).

While working in the field of deaf-blindness, we came across some stark realities that has made the situation all the more grave. First and foremost, there is an utter lack of services for the deaf-blind people in this part of the country. Worse still is the lack of awareness in government circles as well as among different agencies working in this field. With the aim of spreading awareness and sharing our experience with various agencies active in the field of disability, SVH hosted a workshop on 16th February, 2006 at the conference Hall of East India Pharmaceutical works.

The journey that had started with Souvik continues undaunted. The home based intervention programme of SVH extends from Rajpur to Kolkata to Halishahar. In undertaking this project, SVH has taken up a question hitherto unanswered. The task lying ahead is extremely difficult and challenging, more so, considering our meager resources. Nevertheless, our vision is broad; we are confident of building up our capacity and addressing the challenge that we have taken up. What we need for the successful implementation of our vision, our goals is support: support both moral and material.

SVH is presently providing service to 21 children with 4 educators. The following table will give an idea of the children and the area, their educators.

 

Sl. No.--Name of the child and age--Residential Area--Name of the educator--2 days per week home based service provided since.

1.--Sushmita Adhikari: 6 years--Nepalgunge, South 24 Pgs--Dr. Ruma Chatterjee

Mrs. Pialy Basu--Guidance and counseling from Sept. 2004; direct service: July 2005.

2.--Souvik Ghosh: 10 years--Rajpur, South 24 Pgs--Dr. Ruma Chatterjee

Ms. Tapasi Nandi Mrs. Mitalee Nandi--Counseling and guidance Nov. 2004 onwards; Direct service Nov 2004--March 2006 April 2006.

3-6.--Gandhari(7) Prateeksha (4), Prasun (2), Rukmini (1)--Nava Jeevan Shishu Grih, Kolkata--Dr. Ruma Chatterjee Tapasi Nandi Ila Dey--Counseling and guidance from Dec. 2004; Direct service: Jan. 2005 April 2006.

7.--Kinkini Ghosh (5)--Lake Town, Kolkata--Tapasi Nandi--Sept 2005

(discontd).

8-10.--Nilaya Dipak Pauline--Misionaries of Charity Dayadan Home, Kolkata-- Tapasi Nandi Ila Dey—Feb. 2006 April 2006.

11-14.--Pushpa, Francis, Cicil, Sunil--Misionaries of Charity Dayadan Home, Kolkata--Mrs. Pialy Basu--Feb. 2006.

15-19.--Gabriel, Aradhana, Thomas, Ranjan, Kusum--Misionaries of Charity Dayadan Home, Kolkata--Mrs. Mitalee Nandi--Feb. 2006.

20.--Vishal Rajak (7 years)--Kolkata--Guidance and counseling Mrs. Mitalee Nandi--March 2006 April 2006.

21.-- Sangramjit Neogi (10 yrs)--Halishahar, North 24 Pgs--Ms. Tapasi Nandi-- April 2006 (considering the distance from Kolkata, 2 days per month).

             --------------

 

Deaf Children with Additional

 Disabilities in Developing Countries

       (Compiled from Internet)

 

According to the World Bank, 98 percent of all children with disabilities in developing countries are not in school. About 40 million children with disabilities of primary school age are not receiving an education. This includes children who have only a single disability, for example sighted deaf children without mental retardation, learning disabilities, or mobility impairments. What then of deaf-blind children? Or deaf children with mental retardation? Or deaf children with any other combination of additional disabilities.

AFRICA: Cameroon,

ASIA: India,

LATIN AMERICA: Argentina,

Cameroon: Ebot Ntui Ogork, the Executive President of the Cameroon Deaf Empowerment Organization (CDEO), was contact for Cameroon. The CDEO was established by some parents of deaf people and other individuals concerned with the advancement of deaf people. They have run the Ephphatha Institute for the Deaf in Kumba, Cameroon, since its founding in September 1996 with limited support from the Cameroon Ministry of Social Affairs, the German and U.S. Embassies, and the British High Commission in Yaounde. CDEO also teaches sign language to Deaf and hearing people in Cameroon, but particularly to parents of deaf children, and also students at Yaounde University and the social affairs school. In addition, they have run deaf awareness campaigns, and have educated deaf people about HIV. They want to construct a high school for graduates of the Ephphatha Institute because some of these students are presently roaming the streets without employment or education. Another of their priorities is establishing income generating projects. “Deaf children with additional disabilities, especially the physically disabled, exist in Cameroon. Some of the deaf children are also mentally retarded or even have mental disorders. Since educational opportunities for deaf people without other disabilities are very limited in Cameroon and public deaf awareness is still low, I am not aware of the existence of any schools, social services, agencies, or programs in Cameroon that specifically target deaf students with additional disabilities. In our deaf school, the Ephphatha Institute for the Deaf (EID), in Kumba, South West Province, Cameroon, there is one 15-year-old boy with mental disorders. We have just admitted him to study along side Edeaf children with no other disabilities because there is no specialised schools for such cases, therefore there is an urgent need for such schools in Cameroon.”

India: The contact for this country, Ronald D’Souza, is an Indian man who works at a school for deaf children India. He does not specialize in education for deaf children with additional disabilities, and was not personally familiar with any of them, except that he has heard of three schools that are starting new programs for deaf-blind students. D’Souza indicated that there is little or no documented research on deaf education in India. He indicates that, at least in his geographical area, deaf students “who cannot cope with studies because of an additional disability end up in the schools for the mentally retarded.” The school where he works has denied admission to some deaf students because of their additional disabilities; these students usually either go to a program for children with mental retardation or receive no formal education at all. D’Souza also points out that many people in India live in rural areas where there are no services available at all, because programs for children with disabilities are usually located only in major cities. There are no degreed, professional training programs specifically for teachers who wish to work with deaf children with multiple disabilities in India.

“India is a country with more than one billion people with limited resources”, says D’Souza. “The country has not coped with educating all the able-bodied people so far. Then how can we talk about all the Deaf people (and deaf with multiple disability) being educated?” In recent years, however, the government and local non-government organizations have been becoming increasingly aware about the need to educate people with disabilities, including those who are deaf, or blind, or have cerebral palsy, or have mental retardation.

According to the Sense International India web site, the majority of the estimated 450000 deaf-blind children in India receive “virtually no educational stimulation at all.” Instead, most of them live in “total isolation” either at home or at schools that don’t understand their needs. Until 1997, there was only one specialized deaf-blind program for all of India.  Now, there are a total of 25 deaf-blind programs in 13 states. A full listing of these programs is available at http://www.senseintindia.org/htmls/partners.html

D’Souza has indicated that the school he has heard of that will be adding a program for deaf-blind students is mentioned on the Sense International web site at:

http://www.senseintindia.org/htmls/jjsb_varanasi.html

D’Souza himself will be working at the Nav Vani School for the Deaf in Varanasi at

Argentina: Graciela Ferioli, a woman from Argentina who has more than 20 years of experience in the field of disability education in Argentina, sent her masters thesis that she completed last year when she obtained a Masters of Education degree in teaching students with multi-sensory impairments at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Her thesis is entitled “Exclusion Cero: Barreras Institucionales y Educativas que Enfrentan los Ninos y Jovens con Impedimentos Multi Sensoriales y Discapacidades Adicionales y Sus Familias en el Cono Sur de America Latina” (“Zero Exclusion: Educational and Institutional Barriers that Confront Children and Youth with Multi Sensory Impairments and Additional Disabilities and Their Families in the Southern Cone of Latin America”). This 43 page document is written in her native Spanish, which is my third language. Any flaws in comprehension, interpretation or translation are, of course, entirely my own.

For Ferioli’s thesis, she conducted qualitative interviews with three mothers of people with multiple disabilities, including two with multiple sensory impairments (i.e., deaf-blind people), in the Southern Cone of South America. These mothers were chosen because, in addition to having their own children with multiple disabilities, they were also leaders in parents' groups and were consequently able to speak from the experiences of other parents as well as their own lives. Ferioli also chose mothers who had children aged 13 or older to ensure that her participants would be able to speak from long-term experience with the educational system; she ascertained from professionals working in the field that very little has changed over the years since the children of these mothers were still young.  She triangulated these interviews with interviews of four professionals in different specialties who were familiar with some or all of the cases included in this study. The purpose of Ferioli’s study was to identify the causes of barriers that tend to prevent children with multiple disabilities from obtaining an education.

Ferioli indicates that, until the 1960s, there were no programs for students with multiple disabilities in this region. Enrollment has been increasing since that time, but is still limited. Before children with multiple disabilities had access to an education, many were most likely in orphanages, institutions, or simply in their homes. If I understood the Spanish correctly, it is estimated that there are about 163 programs that serve about 2200 children with multiple disabilities in Latin America, and of these, about 4 percent are deaf and blind.  Students with multiple disabilities tend to be the last students to be included in public schools. The community at large tends to perceive people with multiple disabilities as patients to be taken care of, not as participating members of society.

According to Ferioli, the following elements are critical to the successful inclusion of students with disabilities in public schools: 1) A shared vision among administrators, parents, students, members of the community, and other stake holders to promote inclusion; 2) Administrative support, particularly the director of the school; 3) The development of appropriate skills in the personnel participating in the inclusion; 4) Time for communication and cooperation among personnel; 5) A process of providing advice specific to promoting successful inclusion; 6) Permanent availability of direct services, advice, and resources for personnel in inclusive schools; 7) The support of non disabled peers, and opportunities for non disabled students to interact with students who have disabilities. Ferioli emphasizes that simply having the knowledge of how to implement inclusion is not enough--personnel must also have appropriate support.

Presently, there is a severe lack of coordination in effort among specialists.  Says Ferioli, each specialist sees “al nino como un conjunto de sintomas ... sin ver el panorama general” (sees the child as a conjunction of symptoms without seeing the general panorama). This can sometimes result in conflicting or even counterproductive recommendations from various professionals to the parents of a child with multiple disabilities. Children with multiple disabilities tend to be addressed in a fragmented, pathological manner.

Both parents and professionals in Ferioli’s study agree that children with multiple needs tend to receive late diagnosis for various reasons, including lack of awareness among professionals about disabilities, lack of coordination among health and educational services, generalized dehumanization, and lack of information among the families. Parents indicate that some professionals never communicate directly with their child, they only speak about them. One mother points out that every hospital for children has at least one or two children with disabilities why aren’t nurses better prepared to work with them?

There also tends to be limited communication between professionals and parents.  Parents perceive educators as lacking in confidence in their own ability to teach students with additional disabilities. Parents opinions and input tend to be overlooked, or parents may even be blamed for certain problems observed in their children.

Participants in Ferioli’s study suggested that some parents may decline to fight for their own rights because they are not aware of their rights, or because they lack the information and preparation they need to reclaim their rights, or because they are already worn down from the search for multiple opinions from multiple specialists for their children, or they are simply tired of fighting. They feel alone and overwhelmed with tremendous economic demands and the near lack of support from authorities. Ferioli points out that the community must protect families and their rights, or no child in any family will enjoy human rights.

Some public schools in special education are now starting to become interested in revising their institutional objectives to better meet the needs of children with multiple disabilities, in part because of political pressure resulting from the activism of parents. Regulations also support the inclusion of children with multiple disabilities. However, some barriers remain. For example, some administrators do not facilitate admission for students with multiple disabilities, whether due to lack of competence, or because the authorities do not designate enough professionals for this population, or for lack of resources. Ferioli asserts that cooperation between parents and professionals cannot occur if professionals have no incentive to pursue this cooperation.

Parents who insist upon their rights or who make demands are often seen as “problem parents” rather than people seeking information to meet their children’s needs. Many professionals simply do not perceive parents as collaborative partners but, instead, as passive recipients of services. Ferioli recommends that professionals should work as a team with each other and with the family to avoid conflicting, counterproductive recommendations. Instead, each child should be treated holistically, in part to make it easier to visualize the students' strengths.

Ferioli also recommends that consulting professionals should know not only how to educate children with disabilities but also how to advise teachers and parents in their tasks, and how to help professionals and parents find their own solutions to common problems so they can become less dependent on the specialist.

Ferioli indicates that, due to social and cultural values, it is usually women who take on all responsibility for looking after the care and education of children with disabilities. This generally means the mother works with their child every day, with some support from grandmothers, aunts, or other female relatives. This can have a grand impact on interpersonal relationships. Some families result in divorce.

One of Ferioli’s concluding recommendations is that the government, parent organizations, non-government organizations, and the mass media need to offer to the public simple, clear, precise information about opportunities for education and rehabilitation for this population and about the resources and programs available to them.

 

             --------------

 

News Highlights

 

Society for the Visually Handicapped organized a two days’ workshop on deaf-blindness at Maharastra Nivas on 3rd and 4th November, graced by Commissioner of disabilities and other important guests. Special educators from six districts, teachers and volunteers took part in the workshop. Thanks Dr. Ruma Chatterjee and Miss Hena Basu, this workshop was crowned with success.

SVH organized observance of Children’s Day on 14th Nov. at Calcutta Blind School auditorium. Blind children from different corners participated in this unique programme. The program continued up to 1 p.m. followed by a nice lunch financed by SVH.

Voice of World celebrated its foundation day on 16th Nov. at 6 p.m. One officer from Dept. of Mass Education and Extn. was the chief guest and Mr. Ashoke Chowdhury was a special guest. The children from Voice of World presented a nice program before the audience.

Rajya Pratibandhi Sammelani is going is going to observe World Disabled Day on 3rd Dec. at Rani Rashmoni Road. One disabled person from every district would get ovation in recognition of his/her talent as observed by Sri Kanti Ganguli of the concern.

Blind Person’s association is going to celebrate its Golden Jubilee on and from Dec 2006 with different cultural activities.

          

_______________________________________________