Being employed, besides serving monetary ends, is the best way for rehabilitation of people with mental illness, according to Atmanirbhar, an organisation which practices what it preaches.
AtmaNirbhar is a registered non-profit trust based in Chennai that is engaged in finding solutions for employment for people with mental ill health. The stigma of having a mental illness is a massive barrier that an individual battling the illness has to confront every single day. If we add seeking and…
Moyna Sen writes on the National Conclave for Community Mental Health held in July organised by Anjali that touched myriad issues. A simple definition of Mental Health goes this way: ‘Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.’ The National…
Neha Arora, the plucky 32-year-old, who started Planet Abled, the first travel company for people with special needs, says the condescending attitude of society is more nerve-wracking than physical infrastructural challenges when she is touring with the disabled around the country. Planet Abled is probably the first travel company in India that caters to people with special needs. What inspired you to set up it up? My personal travel experiences as a daughter of parents with disabilities led to…
Jason Foo, the CEO of ADA (Alzheimer’s Disease Association), Singapore, shares his views on the rising levels of the disease, how personalised treatment can help and also how spreading awareness can remove the existing stigma. What are the possible reasons for increase in Young onset dementia? (Is there a difference between Young onset dementia and early onset dementia?) Young Onset Dementia (YOD) and Early Onset Dementia (EOD) refer to the same condition which is dementia affecting people…
Dr. Sridhar Vaitheswaran explains how supporting a person with dementia effectively in a dementia friendly community can improve not only their wellbeing but also improve caregiver satisfaction, decrease burden and contribute to the society’s progress. The story of Mr Arun Mr Arun is a seventy-year old retired government employee. He lives with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren in Chennai. He helps with the chores such as shopping and paying bills. He also visits a…
Every three seconds one person in the world develops dementia. Dr Amit Dias, an epidemiologist and geriatrician who is one of the leaders of the dementia awareness movement in India, throws light on ADI’s ‘Remember Me’ campaign as the World observes the Alzheimer’s Awareness month in September. What does the ‘Remember Me’ campaign mean to you? ‘Remember Me’ is a global campaign initiated by Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), UK that reminds me that I need to step up my efforts…
World Lymphoma Awareness Day 2016 Vandana Gupta, a Lymphoma cancer survivor, decided to put her difficult phase in life to bring help and support to good use when she founded V Care, a support group for Cancer patients in Mumbai. Here, for Lymphoma Awareness Day she addresses questions by PatientsEngage: What are the barriers to receiving the right treatment for lymphoma? A lack of awareness of the symptoms for Lymphoma often gets it confused with TB. On top of that, there are not too…
Bangalore based Dr. Namitha A. Kumar, a person with Thalassaemia, reports on the acute shortage across the country of Desferal, a survival drug for patients with thalassemia. On behalf of the patient community, she implores the Union Government to intervene to address uncertainty and ensure clear communication on continued supply of the drug to patients. Thalassemia major patients in India are more than 100,000(1 lakh) in number. We depend on monthly or bi-monthly blood transfusions to survive…
At a recently held meet at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosurgery (NIMHANS), Bangalore, the key issues deliberated were employment possibilities for Persons with Disability due to Mental Illness. Mr Amrit Bakhshy, President, Schizophrenia Awareness Association (SAA) who attended the session generously shares the proceedings of the meet. Last month, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosurgery (NIMHANS) and Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) organized a National Level Expert…
