Team Herald
PANJIM: Caritas Goa with support from Sense International India, The Hans Foundation, Sense International and Thomas Cook Children’s Charity organised the first online State Advocacy meeting for deafblind inclusion, recently.
The meeting aimed to converge with initiatives of relevant State government departments, skill development agencies, and civil society organisations for inclusion of persons with Deafblindness.
A total of 131 participants-parents, special educators and persons with deafblindness interacted with the government officials on a common platform to find a solution for the rehabilitation needs of persons with deafblindness. CSOs, NGOs and colleges attended the meeting.
On the occasion, Akhil Paul, executive director, Sense International India said, “When SDGs and United Nations are talking about ‘Leaving No One Behind’ how can we leave people with deafblindness behind.”
Shrutilata Singh, officer-advocacy, Sense International India, who is also a person with deafblindness said, “Many people with deafblindness are not so fortunate to receive support whether emotional or financial. So, what we ask from our government bodies is to build an ecosystem of support that fosters and nurtures our skills.”
Officials from government bodies like Department of Women and Child Development, Social Welfare Department, doctors from Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC), District Early Intervention Centres, Paediatric Neuro Rehabilitation Centres, members of various panchayats in Goa attended the meeting.
Crediting the Anganwadi workers, Fr Maverick Fernandes, director, Caritas Goa said, “What we want to see from the different bodies of the government is to support identification of people with deafblindness. Some panchayats have been very successful in identifying them and much of the credit goes to Anganwadi workers who believed in leaving no one behind.”
Most of the discussion was done around a faster certification of the children with the right disability written, transport facilities, inclusion in schools and medication procured at the health centres.
The GMC doctors were thanked for providing support to the parents of children with deafblindness by giving them the disability certificates, they have also said that they intend to make separate queues for people with disabilities and make more infrastructural changes to make the hospital accessible.
With support from Sense India the parents were urged to make a network.
They also discussed life after them for their children, acquiring medicines, education, certification and inclusion for people with deafblindness which were taken up in the State Advocacy Meeting.
