Developmental Challenges

Raising the Bar, an Indo-Australian documentary, is a lively, cheerful narrative on Down syndrome and has won many prestigious awards and accolades. Here we speak to director Onir who says the film aims to create awareness, encourage inclusion, celebrate differences and conquer preconceived boundaries. You are an acclaimed Indian film director known for unconventional works like ‘My Brother…Nikhil’ (on AIDS and homosexuality) and the National award winning ‘I am’ (on gay rights, sperm donation…

BillionAbles is India’s first all-inclusive online platform to discover accessible places, products and services for persons with disabilities, health disorders, special needs and elderly. Meet Sameer Garg, the brain behind this concept that is committed to empowering people with disabilities. Tell us about your work on the online portal - your challenges, success and aspirations. We started working on our platform almost two years back. The initial months were spent on ideation, research and…

Shivani Maheshwari brings you a list of 10 movies and documentaries on health released in 2017. It is a random selection, with no preference or bias. They were picked up because they featured prominently on social media. The dominance of American staple probably makes a telling statement that more work needs to be done in the health sector in India, in terms of films, features, docudramas, narratives, and motion pictures. Hopefully, 2018 will be better. Watch them if you can. Many are available…

Tripura Kashyap, founder-director of Apoorva Dance Theatre in Bangalore and one of the pioneers of Creative Movement Therapy in India writes about her weekly dance therapy sessions for a group of 8 to 12 year olds with learning disabilities, Down's Syndrome, Autism and Intellectual Disabilities.  On my return to Bangalore after my training in Dance Therapy in the US, Iwas approached by the Baldwin Opportunity School to hold weekly dance therapy sessions for their children in the age group…

Mobility and accessibility aids can help people maintain independence in the activities that are most important to them. We spoke to a few people with different disabilities about the aids that empower them  Preethi Srinivasan, Founder Soulfree, quadriplegic due to a Spinal Cord Injury (pic above) Perhaps the two important things I use that give me full freedom are my speech activated software (Dragon Naturally Speaking) that allows me to use the computer with complete independence.…

As part of International Day of Persons with Disabilty, we spoke to mothers of children with Cerebral Palsy, Down's Syndrome and Asperger's Syndrome in terms of what they wish for their child. This is what they had to say.  Is it too much to ask?  

If you could go back to the day you got the diagnosis about your child, what would you tell yourself? What rules would you give yourself to live by? What do you know now that you wish you’d known then? Jo Chopra, Executive Director Latika Roy Foundation writes a letter to her younger self – 25 years ago Dear Jo Jo, Buckle your seat belt. That tiny little baby you just adopted? All of 1 kilo? She’s about to take you on the roller coaster ride of your life. She will astonish you first by beating…

Tripura Kashyap, founder-director of Apoorva Dance Theatre in Bangalore and one of the pioneers of Creative Movement Therapy in India writes about how Dance and Movement Therapy helped Sheela, a 12-year-old girl on the Autism Spectrum in multiple ways. Read on: Movement and dance have the power to reach out to anyone. Dance Therapy cuts across socio-cultural-linguistic divides and impacts even those who we think are unreachable, living in their own realities. Sheela* is one such person that I…

Sameer Chaturvedi, a post graduate in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics and currently a PhD researcher, lives with Cerebral Palsy but that has not stopped him from feeling as much a part of society as anyone else. Here’s why: I am Sameer Chaturvedi, living with an impairment. Yes, living with cerebral palsy but not suffering from it. I feel the biggest barrier persons with impairment face in their lives is attitudinal. We are living in a society which is dominated by persons without…

Meet National Paralympics Swimming Champion and President of the Wheelchair Basketball Federation of India, Madhavi Latha, who has been advocating sports as an empowering tool for people with disabilities. Madhavi, tell us about your baby – ‘Yes We too Can’. Till a few years ago, I was clueless about the benefits of sports for People with Disability (PwD). I have been affected by polio and years of not doing much physical activity has compressed my spine, affected one lung. I was to undergo…