AADI – Action for Ability Development and Inclusion
2, Balbir Saxena Marg
Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016
Ph. +91-11-26864714, 26569107
Telefax: -91-11-26853002
e-mail id: aadi@aadi-india.org
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Coming up…
1978: Realizing that there was an extreme shortage of services for children with neuromuscular disorders like cerebral palsy, a few young women in New Delhi came together to form a small special school. Since people with cerebral palsy were called “spastics”, we called the organization the Spastics Society of Northern India (SSNI).
1980: The School (called CSE – Centre for Special Education) could cater to only a limited number of children. As awareness grew and the word spread around about the establishment of SSNI, the numbers of families coming to us increased. Parents were tired of the waiting list and the desperation increased. The demand was for more people and more services. We heard the need and set up Home Management to help parents, families and other care givers to look after the needs of people with disability.
1981: We realized what we were doing was not enough. The need in the rural areas was high and the resources meagre. We linked with the primary health centre of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Ballabgarh, Haryana, and started the rural wing of SSNI. Here we worked not just with Cerebral Palsy, but across disabilities – which led to the entire organisation eventually making this shift. It was the first Community Based Rehabilitation Programme in the Northern Region of India.
1984: The constant realisation that there were not enough people with skills to work in the field prompted us to start the School of Rehabilitation Sciences. We train special educators and therapists to work in the field of disability. The courses leading to Post Graduate diploma are recognized by the Rehabilitation Council of India and in 2002-03 received affiliation to University of Delhi.
1982: The Outstation Programme was started to try to provide services for families in the Northern States who would not otherwise be able to access specialized services.
1985: The young adolescents of CSE were firm in their thinking that they will not sit at home after finishing school. But there was nothing else available in the society. They demanded opportunities for training and education. We started the Vishwakarma Adult Training Programme to equip adults with disability to find the right employment opportunities and also cope with other changing needs.
The reaction of many of the people we had worked with was that growing up in a secluded environment did not equip them to face life in a larger society. So, we realized we had to make our services more relevant and inclusive.
Other dimensions were added to our work. – Integration of children and young adults into schools, colleges, vocational training institutes and open or self employment opportunities. We also began advocating for policy changes.
1994-1995: The organisation has always believed in creating awareness and trying to change legislation and policies. SSNI played a major role in coordinating with hundreds of NGOs and lobbying with the government to enact the Persons with Disability Act.
The group was instrumental in including people with disability in the Census 2001.
Our work became more outward focused. Empowerment, Inclusion, Sustainability, Rights, Disability as a development issue were dimensions that were new and challenging. We underwent a transformation process. The first strategy plan, “Promoting Access” (2000-2005) was based on this new understanding.
We wanted to reduce the use of the word “spastic”. The organisation also realized the need to move away from being a special school. Worldwide the movement in the disability field was towards inclusion. After a lot of introspection, AADI, as we are now called, was formerly registered in 2002. The word is from Sanskrit, meaning ‘The Beginning’. We see the beginnings of a new direction for ourselves. The acronym `AADI’ – Action for Ability Development and Inclusion – also reflects our approach to work. Our fresh endevours grow on the foundations of our past, gaining strength and sustenance from our traditions and values. Our logo of the dancing individual, symbolizing joy and independence, does not change.
2001: Trainings and services for Mental Health were initiated.
2002-2003: Affiliation of the Post Graduate Diploma courses to Delhi University.
2003 onwards: Opportunities to work in Inclusive settings were explored and initiated especially in Education, Employment and Training.
2005: Review of the last strategy plan and preparation for the next strategy plan was focused upon.
Strategic Direction for 2007- 2012
Our Vision is of a world in which people with disability are an integral part of society, participating in the community and living life to the fullest, with equitable access to opportunities and services.
Our Mission: The focus of our work will be to facilitate enabling environments in the best interest of the child and the adult thus ensuring equitable, accessible, quality assured services using a life span approach. We will be informed and guided by the needs of people with disability who are further marginalized by poverty and gender inequalities.
Through our work we will…
AADI’s Vision is of a world in which people with disability are an integral part of society, participating in the community and living life to the fullest, with equitable access to opportunities and services.
The focus of our work is to facilitate enabling environments in the best interest of the child and the adult thus ensuring equitable, accessible, quality assured services using a life span approach. We will be informed and guided by the needs of people with disability who are further marginalized by poverty and gender inequalities.
Through our work we will:
Our work is guided by the core human values of respect, dignity and the autonomy of persons with disability and their carers. Strengthening capacities of all stakeholders will be central to our work. We will work towards being collaborative, participative, strategic, transparent, equitable, non-discriminative, accessible, and accountable in all that we do. We will follow the norms of safety and quality assured services in our work.
Education Services
Since 2008, in response to the change in law & policies, specifically the ratification of the UNCRPD & RTE (2008), the Education programme at AADI has been focusing on supporting the admissions of children with disability into mainstream schools and ensuring retention of children in these schools. This is coupled with building capacities of schools, teachers, parents and working on policy changes.
Today, most of the children of AADI School are part of mainstream government & private schools. This process has been facilitated, through influencing the administration & providing direct support to the teachers in the class. We also work with children with impairment who are out of school by facilitating a process of learning through bridge programs and ensuring their admissions to local neighborhood schools of parents choices takes place.
The belief and conviction that all children, whatever their differences maybe, benefit from being in the same learning environment has been reaffirmed through our experience of AADI’s education processes.
Walk-in Services
This is available to anybody who has a need – a family, a person with disability, professionals, volunteers, students etc. After the initial registration and detailed understanding of needs, capacities of the person with disability, barriers which hinder their performance, specific assessments, an individualized care plan for the person is developed. Thereafter, the intervention-which is dependent on the care plan – could be information dissemination, referrals within their community and follow up with the same, building the capacities of the referred agency, direct work with the person with disability, crisis intervention if required, and home visit if required. Parent training is individualized, based on the needs of the child with disability. The walk-in services are available from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm on all working days.
Sambhav- Making Inclusion Possible
Sambhav is a national resource center, funded by National Trust. It has been set up by AADI in collaboration with Saarthak in 2010. Sambhav is an exhibition cum demonstration center which showcases various ways in which the principles of universal design can be applied to different areas of life like communication (enhancing listening, understanding, alternate modes of communication); learning (play, concept teaching, and self learning); movement (transfers, supported walking, alternate modes of mobility and outdoor travelling); and just doing things for well being and safety (eating, drinking, self care, home chores, work and managing money), thereby, enabling persons with disabilities to participate fully in all aspects of living. It provides facilities for demonstrations and experiencing practical usage of the displayed items by persons with disabilities and other visitors
Program for young adults
This is joint programme of AADI and Saarthak (an NGO working in the area of Community Mental Health and Rights of People with Mental Disability) for young adults and adults with disability. The programme called DOR (dreams opportunities and resources) endeavors’ to improve the quality of life of individuals with disability, to create resources and links within the community so that their dreams become a reality. The programming in DOR is Ability focused and Rights focused. Participation of people with disability in decision making is focused on to the extent that there are community meetings where the members review the work done so far and decide on the next weeks plan. Every day activities give opportunities for capacity building in communication, relationship building, problem solving and other life skills. It provides space for pursuing one’s own interests through the various clubs – music club, film club, art club, hobby clubs, gardening, book and games clubs. Members plan and execute many activities in the community like the festivals and the melas – spring fest, teej mela, rakkhee mela, diwali dussehra mela are some of the examples. Members have successfully conducted a winter campaign for 2 consecutive years. The process involves, collecting, sorting, washing, mending, packing and delivering winter wear for the homeless, and members participate based on their capacity and interests. Such an initiative enhances disabled people’s image as contributing members both in the eyes of the families and larger public. They are just not seen as receivers of services. This has been a very successful campaign where the organizations receiving the cartons of winter wear, have said never ever have they received material with such dignity. They are planning to outsource this activity to us and we feel it is a win –win situation for both the organizations.
The second part of the work with young adults is Inclusive Opportunities. It mainly focuses on capacity building for occupations and livelihoods and quality of life aspects of the individual people with disability.
The programme has the following components –
Jagriti
This programme mainly focuses on creating an enabling environment through awareness raising, information dissemination, capacity building and advocacy for an inclusive society for people with disability where there is no exclusion, exploitation or stigmatisation of persons with disabilities.
School of Rehabilitation Sciences (SRS)
The Training and Research wing of AADI is affiliated to Delhi University and conducts post graduate courses recognized by Rehabilitation Council of India. These are: Post Graduate Diploma in Special Education (Multiple Disabilities- Physical and Neurological) and Post Graduate Diploma in Developmental Therapy (Multiple Disabilities: Physical and Neurological). The curriculum of both the courses helps the trainees to understand disability within a social model and equips them to plan and implement holistic & cost effective programmes through a participatory approach, within a rights based framework. There is also an effort to expose the students to other issues in the developmental sector, like socio-economic disparities and gender discrimination and towards the change that can be brought about by community participation and ownership. The AADI faculty brings with it, rich and diverse experiences of working across the lifespan, from infants to adults with disability. Training sessions are also arranged with experienced guest faculty. Along with this, SRS also develops need based training modules and conducts trainings and workshops for professionals, NGOs, Training Institutes and other professional bodies.
Rural Community Based Rehabilitation Programme
Based in the Ballabgarh Block of Faridabad District, Haryana, the programme covers 83 villages under 65 Panchayats. The focus of the rural programme is to facilitate the creation of a responsive community, which fulfils the needs of people with disability. This includes collaborative efforts with persons with disability, families, local leadership, policy makers and the larger society; capacity building of volunteers, professionals and institutions from the Health, Education, Employment and other sectors; formation of advocacy and support groups at the village, block and district level. Focusing on disability, poverty and gender issues, the programme works towards convergence of services that benefit all people in the community.
Managing and Building Resources
The sustainability and growth of AADI since its founding in 1978 has been through focused management of its human, financial and material resources. People are AADI’s most important assets in a mutually supportive and nurturing relationship that has developed the professionalism and experience base of individuals and enriched the Organization. AADI has a consultative and participative style of management. Conscious and conscientious accountability are the underpinnings of good financial management – this is especially true when the resource is perennially scarce and its need continuously growing. Allocations of funds and its utilization are monitored on the basis of established rules of procedure. Transparency of operations and accounts, diverse systems of reporting has been established satisfying the requirements of domestic and international agencies. The infrastructure at AADI has been consistently managed for the preservation of assets and economy of use. Maintenance and the upkeep of tools and equipment, the building and water, power resources, telecommunication and transport have always been towards optimum utilization – in full compliance with all statutory requirements. Eighty percent of our recurring expenditure is towards delivering professional and support services to people with disability and their families. Our sources of funding include Government Grants, Income Generation Activities, Interest from Investments, Rentals, and Specific & General Donations from individuals/Trusts/Corporate/Public Sector.
Name: AADI – Action for Ability Development and Inclusion. The word ‘aadi’ also means beginning in Sanskrit and represents the constant renewal of the organisation.
Year of birth: 1978.
Location: We are situated in New Delhi, India. The rural arm of AADI is headquartered in Dayalpur, Haryana.
Vision: AADI’s Vision is of “a world in which people with disability are an integral part of society, participating in the community and living life to the fullest, with equitable access to opportunities and services.
Our Mission: The focus of our work will be to facilitate enabling environments in the best interest of the child and the adult thus ensuring equitable, accessible, quality assured services using a life span approach. We will be informed and guided by the needs of people with disability who are further marginalized by poverty and gender inequalities.
Values and guiding principles of AADI: Our work is guided by the core human values of respect, dignity and the autonomy of persons with disability and their carers. Strengthening capacities of all stakeholders will be central to our work. We will work towards being collaborative, participative, strategic, transparent, equitable, non-discriminative, accessible, and accountable in all that we do. We will follow the norms of safety and quality assured services in our work.