Supporting deafblind people in India Transforming lives!

When Sense International (India) started its work 15 years ago there was only one programme for deafblind people in the whole of India, which was supporting just 23 deafblind children. Since then our work has flourished and, by enabling deafblind people to make the transition from isolation and neglect to active participation in family and community life, our work continues to improve lives. There is an estimated population of 500,000 deafblind individuals in India. Many deafblind children in India have no access to any kind of education, while others are sent to schools that lack the necessary skills and tools to help them develop. Most deafblind children in India still remain in total isolation at home. Sense International understands that deafblindness creates specific difficulties particularly in communication, mobility and access to information. Our aim thus is to provide the information, guidance, support and training needed along with being committed to helping deafblind people and their families by raising awareness and campaigning for rights, opportunities and services throughout the nation. A hugely successful model of engaging in partnership with other non-governmental organisations and the government of India's ' Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (Education for All) programme has helped us today to reach over 43,000 deafblind children and adults across India.. Through this partnership over 2,000 government teachers have been trained on issues surrounding deafblindness and on appropriate teaching techniques for deafblind children in mainstream schools. We are striving to have at least one model service for deafblind individuals in all states of India, so that no deafblind person has to travel more than a day to get specialist services Recently we successfully completed a five-year programme in India where we were able to establish the first of its kind Regional Learning Centres (RLCs) with the help of our established local partners. These four RLCs continue to act as centres of excellence across the north, south, east and west of India, where they run quality programmes for deafblind individuals and support smaller, less experienced local partner organisations to initiate services for deafblind people. Under this programme each child receives an average of six hours of rehabilitation, therapy and educational support per week. They have been assigned special educators who have designed an Individual Learning Plan (IEP), involving the family, relevant professionals and the community that all engage with this child. The learning programme takes account of the childs individual needs and circumstances and gives clearly identified milestones and goals. The success of the model has resulted in further developing them into State Learning Centres (SLCs) in 6 states in the west and south of India. For this, Sense International (India) was awarded a three year grant beginning in April 2012, from the Department for International Development (UKAid).

Sense International (India) also takes into account the need for a basic level of training to introduce deafblindness and multi-sensory impairment to professionals/ organsiations with limited experience of working with deafblind people. As a result, today many organisations are willing to establish their own services for deafblind individuals. Over the last years intensive two-week advanced training courses have been delivered across the four regions, benefitting about 100 professionals. The courses contained both theoretical and practical sessions covering a range of topics including communication, developing Individual Educational Plans and teaching strategies for the deafblind and multi sensory impaired child. With the support of Sense International (India) the three National Networks have been set up. Prayaas - the national network for families and care givers, Abhi- Prerna for teachers and educators and Udaan the national network of adult deafblind individuals. The network is a source of peer support, encouragement, motivation and professional recognition, it allows for sharing own struggles and achievements in coping with a deafblind member within the family. Networking and information sharing is an essential tool in the development of sustainable services for deafblind people.

Every alternate year we also organise a National Conference on Deafblindness where people including deafblind people, government ministers and other policy makers, representatives from local, national and international NGOs working with deafblind people, family members, experts and practitioners all come together on a national platform to discuss and engage in a dialogue on issues that focus not the educational system but on all aspects of life including healthcare, the working environment and opportunities, and social and community participation that affect the deafblind individual. The last conference saw over 340 participants and last year the same was attended by 340. Due to the uniqueness of the disability deafblindness is often a much marginalised condition even within the disability sector. In recent times Sense International (India) has ensured that deafblindness has been included in the list of disabilities in the Rights of People with Disabilities Bill, 2011. Following suit we have also secured a three year EC grant under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) which is aimed at influencing government legislation and policies particularly around ensuring that the specific needs are met and rights of deafblind people are protected.