Navnidh Hassomal Lakhani Ability Development Centre for the differently-abled and disadvantaged sections of the society houses, under one roof, the best facilities and resources for the disabled that are available around the world. We had been discussing the need of establishing a permanent home for Arushi, and once again, volunteers were instrumental in our journey. Sachin Paliwal, an architect by profession, pledged his support whenever work was begun. Edwine Kearney, who was visiting India from Ireland and had spent 3 years at Arushi for training our physio-therapists, advocated Arushi’s cause at her embassy to raise funds. Established with the support of the Embassy of Ireland and Hongkong based Mr. Kan, introduced to Arushi by Siddhh Bhau, this centre is home to people with any types of disability. The three-story building is India's first and only completely disabled-friendly building, which means that the building and the resources provided therein are completely accessible to people with any type of disability. As of this year, Arushi is completely run by green power and has converted completely to solar power.
This state-of-the-art recording studio is used for recording of books and study material in audio for the visually impaired and other print impaired. This unit has computers, digital recorders, mixers, mikes, CD recorder and necessary for DAISY production.
Arushi is a founder member of the DAISY forum of India which is a consortium of 90 not-for-profit organisations working towards converting books and reading material to audio and accessible eText format for the visually and reading impaired. These have been uploaded to Sugamya Pustakalay, India’s first and largest accessible e-library. Our audio library stores a vast amount of knowledge for the visually impaired, with recording done in any language for any subject as per requirement.
This library contains books both in print and in Braille. It caters to the requirements of blind students and serves as a resource centre for print material concerning disability related issues.
The focus is to make the visually impaired self-dependent and capable of accessing electronic text. The computers are equipped with special text to speech screen reading software to enable the visually impaired to use the computer. Trained instructors help people with disabilities to explore the world via the internet, free of cost.
The Centre has 10 classrooms that are used for providing special education to children with various disabilities, teaching them academics subjects but primarily training them in life skills and for developing school readiness skills amongst young children with disabilities. Children who have graduated to mainstream schools also use these classrooms after school hours for their special academic needs.
The entre offers advanced physiotherapy, sensory integration, audio-verbal, speech and occupational therapy by trained and experienced professionals to children with orthopaedic problems, developmental delay, polio, cerebral palsy and other disabilities.
This unit is equipped to provide vocational training to the disabled. It includes equipment for production of greeting cards, paper bags, Diwali diyas, rakhis and other handicraft items. Adults with disabilities are also trained in making eco-friendly products.
The centre has two activity halls, which are used for organizing capacity-building programs, cultural programs, trainings, meetings and workshops for teachers, community workers and NGOs. They are also used for organizing group activities with children coming to the centre. We also have guest rooms for volunteers, faculty and people from other NGOs visiting Arushi.
Facility of Braille transcription in Hindi and English is available at Arushi. Textbooks/instructional material are made available to institutions and visually impaired children on demand.
