Meet Miss Wheelchair Runner Up 2014, Model/Actress, Motivational Speaker, Writer, Disability Rights Advocate and Quora's Top Writer Virali Modi. From a bubbly 14-year-old school girl in Pennsylvania, USA, she was rendered paralysed neck down as a result of an unknown diagnosis (meningitis, enchephalitis, meningioenchepalitis, spina bifida, and/or transverse myelitis). She shares her opinions of how Indian society needs to go through a sea change vis a vis its attitude towards people with…
With the rapid increase in ageing population, elder abuse is predicted to increase in the coming years. We speak to Sailesh Mishra, who is working passionately for the advocacy of senior citizens and geriatric care, on the existing scenario and how best we can create an elder friendly society. How many senior citizens are there in India today? What percent of the total population do they comprise? There are 100 million plus senior citizens (above 60) in India today. They comprise about 10% of…
The Dementia Friends Program of SCARF (Schizophrenia Research Foundation) is a unique initiative aimed to create dementia friendly community in Chennai. Hear from the young volunteers themselves how it not only helps engage persons with dementia but also makes the youth aware and empathetic. Around 4.5 million people in India are suffering from dementia and the figure is likely to double by 2030, according to health experts. Despite the large numbers, only 1 out of 10 people with dementia in…
In the book Em and the Big Hoom, Jerry Pinto takes the reader right into the heart of the Mendeses family which reels and recovers as it tries to cope with the mental illness of its central character. A book report by Shwetankshi Bhuwalka (A Psychology Major, School Teacher, and Avid Reader) They say the greatest books are the ones you don’t want to end. You want to continue reading it for as long as you can and it becomes a part of your world. I finished reading the book a couple of…
The world’s first prosthetic legs made out of special kind of cane allows an amputee to walk, run and dance with greater ease as it is light-weight and has compliant spring. Meet Arun Cherian, founder of Rise Legs, the Bangalore based startup behind this innovative cane legs. Arun , it is a brilliant and game changing concept, please tell us a about your company and the idea? Rise Legs is a startup company with just four employees based in Bangalore. We make high quality, cost effective…
Dr Roma Kumar, Clinical Psychologist and Senior Consultant at the Institute of Child Health at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, talks about how siblings of a child with a condition also need care and empathy and what may be the emotional turmoil for such a sibling, as a child and often even as an adult. What is the positive and negative impact of a child with disability or a serious health condition on the brothers and sisters? The quality of the life of family members, as well as of the…
Dr Prakash C. Gupta, Director of Healis-Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health, has researched public health in India extensively over decades and shares with us his valuable opinions on tobacco use and cessation. Scroll down to sign the pledge The Age when it all begins Even when it may be difficult to ascertain the age in which people start smoking, the mean age of initiating tobacco use in any form in India is determined at 17.8 years: 18 for males, 17.1 for females. For smoking, it is 17.9 (…
In March this year, in a landmark move, the Indian Lok Sabha passed a resolution in favour of those with mental illness. Mr.Amrit Bakhshy, President of Schizophrenia Awareness Association and a caregiver himself lists down some salient points. The Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 strives to rectify years of wrongdoing against those who have a mental illness hallenged and also overturns, in the process, the archaic Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (which criminalises attempted suicide).…
Amba Salelkar, a Chennai-based legal expert and disability rights activist, urges that the Government take steps to amend the laws relating to property rights, and introduce safeguards to ensure that persons with disabilities are not discriminated. Persons with disabilities who are most likely to have problems when it comes to property are those who face greater restrictions in participation on account of impairments that affect their ability to understand, judge and communicate decisions…
