Education is the key to empowerment of girls and women with disabilities for it allows them to access information, enables them to communicate their needs, interests and experiences, increases their confidence and encourages them to assert their rights. Their chances of employment also increase with education.

The employment scenario of the disabled girls is quite grim and our objective is to empower these girls economically and improve their status in society accordingly through building their capacity in various skills. There has been an increasing demand among the girls to learn tailoring. At present 17 girls are undergoing vocational training in tailoring in ward 29 (Rajabazar area). A number of girls in ward 28 have also expressed interest in learning this skill. Therefore, a second batch has been started where these girls are receiving the training. Another vocational training unit has been opened in ward 54 (Park Circus area) where girls from both the wards (ward 54 & 60) are receiving the training. So far the items, which the girls have learnt to make, are long frocks, inner wears of boys and girls; some are learning the skills of zardousi (embroidery of zari threads). In this year alone, 22 girls have acquired the skill of tailoring in our rural unit.

The objective of forming groups at the grass-root level and then organizing them into federations at the district and state level is to advocate for their rights and opportunities. The basic concept is to form groups at the panchayat and ward level and a leader will be nominated from each group whose main responsibility will be to listen to the group members and communicate their demands and advocate for their rights in the larger community. There will be a district level federation and state level federation representing the group leaders of both the rural and urban areas. Four groups have been formed in each ward (ward 15, 28, 29 & 60) in the urban area. Ten groups have been formed at the panchayat level.

We focus on advocacy and awareness programme of issues concerning girls / women with disabilities. We carry out monthly awareness programs with local clubs in the villages and in the slums of Kolkata. We engage the panchayat members, government officials in such awareness programs including other local NGOs working in the area as our main purpose is to mainstream the issue of disability. The family members of G/WWDs and other stakeholders in the community are also invited in such programs. A baseline survey was conducted in five states of eastern India- Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal to find out the situation of women with disabilities and the attitudes & policies toward WWD by key actors in development. And its findings were disseminated with G/WWDs and the secondary stakeholders involving the government officials, NGO representatives, Media personnel, thus making them aware of the real situation of WWDs and motivating them for initiating advocacy activities in key areas of their development.

Networking with other NGOs, women’s organizations, forums, networks has been our ongoing

A signature campaign was launched on ‘International Women’s day’ as a support for the rights of the marginalized women in collaboration with ‘Maitree’. The status of marginalized women (such as women with different sexual orientation, Muslim women, Dalit women etc.) in general and WWDs in particular was discussed. The ultimate goal is to submit a deputation to the Minister of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare.

Keeping in mind the mainstreaming of disabled girls into the community at large we aim to provide them pre-school support and ADL (Activities for Daily Living) support. At present we are giving the ADL support to four girls with multiple disabilities and one girl with hearing impairment is receiving the pre-school support with the purpose of enrolling her to formal school. In three years we have provided home based rehabilitation support to 43 girls with disabilities (GWDs).

Providing mobility aids and assistive devices is one of our important priorities. Basically needs assessment of the children and adults are done before providing them the assistive devices.

Every year we organize exposure trips especially for the girls / women with disabilities for allowing them to enjoy on their own and this year in the month of February 2008, we organized a picnic cum exposure trip for the girls from both the rural and the urban unit.

We went to Chandannagar, an old historical town in the district of Hooghly. It was a memorable experience for them as most of them had stepped out of Kolkata for the first time, more so without family members! They enjoyed the trip the most when we visited the beautiful church in Bandel. The girls went ahead out of sheer will power because they were very happy to have come for this trip and didn’t want to miss any opportunity of enjoyment.