Community Based Rehabilitation
Overall Goal of Community-Based Rehabilitation Sector (Disability)People with disabilities (PWDs) to have equal rights and opportunities and the capacity to access all the existing resources and services to lead a life with identity, dignity, respect and justice in the family, community and society.
Persons with disabilities represent the poorest of the poor especially in rural areas. Because of their disability, they are isolated and discriminated in the family and community in terms of property, education, health, income and all other socio-economic rights.
Persons with disabilities constitute 2.13% of the total population of India as per the Census of 2001 (2.19 crores) and of them 42.46% are women (93.01 Lakhs).
Generally rehabilitation services are mostly confined to cities and major towns while such services are not available to people in rural areas and small towns. Even a majority of parents in cities and major towns are unable to access rehabilitation services due to lack of awareness, poor financial conditions and attitudes of parents/family members towards their disabled children. One of the biggest challenges faced by civil society is to provide rehabilitation services to those who have not been reached yet, especially those with disabilities in India’s villages and small towns. WDT has been working in Anantapur with people with disabilities since 1987. In Kurnool District, WDT C.B.R program is implemented in collaboration with another NGO, “SACRED”, which has a wide experience in this area of work.
- 406 children with disability are pursuing their special education and rehabilitation training at 7 residential centres both primary and secondary level run by WDT in 5 locations
- 956 physically challenged children who were pursuing their primary and secondary education in government schools at village level were given assistance in the form of school materials.
- A total of 10,323 persons with disability comprised of 6,100 male and 4,223 female were organized into 795 SHGs spread across 845 project villages in Anantapur district by the end of 2011.
- As many as 736 SHGs having a membership of 9704 members are running their mini-bank with their own savings up to the end of 2011 and their cumulative saving reached an amount of Rs.2,43,08,042.
- Members representing SHGs of PWDs are mobilizing institutional loans under various self-employment schemes. The cumulative loan taken by members from various sources for their income generating activities stands at Rs.8,95,41,878 up to the end of 2011.