Disabilities
- Over 70% of disabilities in India are preventable
yet.....
- Recent studies show that 4% of the Indian population are disabled
- Polio is the single largest cause of orthopedic disabilities in India;
- 1 child in India is affected by polio every 2minutes
- 80% of India disabled live in rural areas
- only 2% of these people have access to services for the disabled
- disabled in the urban areas are slghtly better of: 5% of them have access to services for the disabled
INDIA '97:
a step away from
the 21st century,
“When all of us are effected by poverty, what is special about a person with a physical handicap”
In the villages in which we work, where most people live every-day lives that are handicapped by poverty and a resource poor environmen, a physical disability is seen as an additional act of God, Karma, Fate.
At best, a person with a disability is ignored as another burden, another mouth to feed. But often, s/he is treated with hostility as a drain on the family’s resources. as the person not allowing other members of the family to get on with their lives.
SAMUHA believes... ...the disabled are differently abled.
SAMUHA articulated this belief through a resource group that it has set up to work exclusively with people with disabilities. The resource group is called SAMARTHYA which means ‘potential’.
SAMUHA is also a an equal opportunity employer. And people with disabilities are represneted in SAMUHAs Board, Management and Field Programmes.
