As Nisha (name changed) put the final touches to the flower she had been drawing arduously, she looked as contented as an artist who had just finished putting the final strokes to a masterpiece. Nisha’s joy knew no bounds when her drawing was put up on the school’s notice board and she beamed with pride for a job well done. Another group of young boys and girls were busy practising a dance number on the tunes of a popular Hindi song for the forthcoming school function. All of them looked a happy lot, much like the kids we see around us every day. But the thing that set them apart is the fact that they are ‘special’. They are special because they bravely overcame a serious hurdle in their life.

The special children are the young souls who suffer from mental ailments and now placed under the nurturing hands of a group of hard working staff and faculty at Ashadeep Day Care and Rehabilitation Centre, an organization in existence since 1996, providing service to individuals with mental disabilities. It was started in Guwahati by a husband-wife duo, Mukul Chandra Goswami and Anjana Goswami who left a lucrative career in banking and academics respectively, to devote themselves for the cause of betterment of the people who were differently abled. For the initial six months, Kabin and Mandira Bezbaruah worked with them as a team till they breathed their last. Since then, with the help and assistance of various funding and networking partners and also the staff, Ashadeep has emerged as a name synonymous to the mental health scenario of Assam.

Ashadeep director Anjana Goswami mentioned that as the mental growth of the intellectually disabled is half of their physical growth they aren’t able to cope up with their peers when placed in a normal private or government school, as a result of which they are stigmatized. This further aggravates their condition and such students suffer from a low self esteem and behavioural problems. Few children are also kept indoors by their over protective guardians which in turn hampers their growth and poses as a deprivation of sorts to the children.

Mental retardation is not a disease; it’s a condition usually by birth and sometimes through accidents, says Anjana Goswami. When the development milestone gets delayed the person can be diagnosed with the condition. Based on their intelligence quotient (IQ) level the children can be categorized under various degrees of mental retardation. Usually a child having an IQ range of 70-99 is categorized as a borderline whose intellectual impairment is 25%. From then on it is further grouped into various categories as mild, moderate, severe and profound. A borderline child can continue normal schooling till the VI standard, after which it might be difficult for them to cope up with regular studies. This is when the child needs a special school to help them continue education effortlessly.

Ashadeep imparts training to such students to overcome their shortcomings. As the motto of the organization goes, ‘We look at their abilities not disabilities’, the centre strives to give the basic skills to groom an individual to be self-dependent with an individualized educational plan. As told by Parlee Fariza, programme manager of the centre, the students are assessed monthly on the basis of various goals like personal that includes self-help skills, social/communication, academic, vocational and recreational. Based on that assessment the progress of the child is gauged. Ashadeep students have actively participated in the Special Olympic Movement which initiated their involvement in the sporting arena as well. Apart from that, they also enjoy the rights reserved for the disabled after being registered by the centre itself. The centre houses a sheltered workshop wherein vocational training is imparted to women who have recovered from mental illness.

Even though a lot has changed since the past 13 years in the mental health scenario, the main challenge yet to be tackled is the proper rehabilitation of the mentally challenged people. In spite of the Persons With Disability (PWD) Act, 1995 and the three per cent reservation for the disabled, the intellectually disabled people have a grim future. Though mental illness has been included as one of the disabilities, mental retardation does not fall under its purview. Hence, the government needs to chalk out some effective measures to accommodate such people at least in the vocational field as they can be engaged in work after an efficient training.

Address of the centre: Islampur Road, Gandhi Basti, Guwahati-3. Ph: 0361-2666794.

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Sushmita Lahkar