Leh: Secretary, Arushi Society- a Bhopal-based NGO working for people with disabilities and issues related to them, Anil Mudgal, called on the Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, RK Mathur, at Raj Niwas today.
Secretary Arushi Society briefed that the NGO formed in 1992 is focused on creating an inclusive society for people with disabilities and other marginalised sections of the society by providing them with equal opportunities to lead independent lives. He apprised of their focus on the promotion of inclusive education and Accessible India campaign.
Secretary Arushi Society informed about the initiatives taken by them, viz. making several historical monuments across the country accessible to the divyangs; providing basic school readiness skills to children under 5 with disabilities at Koshish, a pre-school at Arushi; providing training to teachers to enable them to teach and deal with children with disabilities; organising confidence-building activities; providing therapies to divyangs at the rehabilitation centre, etc. He briefed about the sensitisation programmes organised by them in collaboration with Rewa Society in Kargil and also the plan to hold such sensitisation programmes in Leh with the help of Rewa Society and PAGIR.
Secretary Arushi Society shared their plan to promote ‘inclusive education’ in Ladakh, conduct online speech therapy classes for people with speech impairment and assist in teaching visually impaired children and introduce textbooks for them in schools. He shared the proposal to develop a model school with all the accessibility features on a pilot basis for the divyang students from Ladakh and also organise a film festival on disability.
LG Mathur appreciated Arushi Society for their noble work. He informed about the initiatives being taken by the UT Administration for the welfare of the divyangs, including making public buildings accessible to them, enumeration of persons with disabilities (PwDs) and issuance of Unique Disability ID (UDID) to them, augmentation in financial assistance/scholarships to PwDs through various government schemes, providing equipment such as wheelchairs and hearing aid to PwDs, integration of young people with special learning needs into normal schools, opening special schools for children with severe disabilities and providing employment opportunities for divyangs, etc.
