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Many children with disabilities and their parents do not receive the support that they need to access educational opportunities. In supporting these families, it is important first to identify the challenges that they face, whether institutional or individual.
Read about Chetna’s story to learn more about how a CBR in Gujarat, India helped to identify the challenges that her family faced, and subsequently, how best to address those challenges with her and her family.
Learn about how the CBR programme helped Chetna and her family attain a new life.
CBR focused on primary school-age children were first initiated on a small scale in the 1980s in Gujarat, India. Children with disabilities often have less access to learning and life experience in their early years, but these years are crucial in helping a child acquire an understanding of the world, form social relationships, develop concepts and get the necessary foundational training for the whole of his/her life. Today, early childhood care and education are integral to many CBR programmes in Gujarat.
Chetna is a girl from a rural area of Gujarat who was identified by CBR personnel when she was three years old because her development was delayed. CBR arranged for Chetna to visit a screening and assessment centre away from her village. She was issued with a disability certificate by the centre, after being diagnosed with a profound hearing loss, visual impairment and, linked to these, difficulties in understanding. Chetna was always at home or on her mother’s lap, so the CBR and family needed to answer and address the following questions:
CBR arranged for a local carpenter to make a special chair. Chetna started sitting on this chair on the verandah of her house, so she became visible in the community and her interaction with the family and neighbours improved. She was trained in daily living skills and in how to communicate, and was given a hearing device and special glasses to overcome her poor hearing and vision. Chetna now helps her mother at mealtimes, with washing and cleaning vessels, and goes to the local shop. Her parents can now communicate with her and they have a positive and loving relationship. CBR also helped the family to obtain social security benefits and enrol Chetna in the State education system like any other child.
