Mentally Disabled Kids Find A Voice At This Pathway

His is a path well chosen. A.D.S.N. Prasad, who runs Pathway, a rehabilitation and education centre for the mentally retarded, was the 11th son in a family of 12 children. His father, Dr Dathu Rao, was a physician in the Mysore palace. "My father lost his eyesight and was partly paralysed at the age of 40. His disability didn't cripple his energy and he supported the entire family by switching professions. He became a writer. He had a way with the keyboard and people who watched him work never realised he was blind," says Prasad. It was his father's disability that drove Prasad towards a career that would help the disabled.

When the government started the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing in Mysore in the early '70s, Prasad thought that a formal training would help him in his mission. He enrolled for the MSc programme in speech pathology and audiology. "At that stage, my idea was to take this up as a profession. I had no intention of starting a centre," says Prasad.

He moved to Chennai in 1975 and started practicing. Says he: "Though there was a steady flow of patients, I hardly knew about their economic background. I did not realise that my fee was steep. Some of the parents were struggling for a living yet were willing to spend money on their children." Reality struck him in 1985 when he was invited to a birthday celebration of one of his patients. "When I reached my patient's home, I realised that this family was struggling to make two ends meet. There was no furniture. Yet, the entire family thought that somehow their ward should be cured. I felt like a mercenary," he reminisces. Within a week, the seed for the present institution was sown.

He rented out a small premise at Adyar, a Chennai suburb. About 25 children were taken in for long-term treatment; many were treated as outpatients. "My wife, Chandra, pledged all her jewels; that was our initial corpus for the centre. She took training in special education, a Master's in nutrition. We were the faculty members, cooks, peons and the administrators," recalls Prasad.

In due course, the couple realised that unless they formed an institution, they couldn't cope with the demands. "When news spread of our offering systematic and scientific help in speech and audiology for mentally-challenged kids, people from faraway places started coming in. The most disturbing aspect was to deny a child who needed help. We were forced to turn them away, as we could handle only a limited number of children," says Chandra. Like any other welfare organisation in the country, the couple approached the government and the corporate sector for help.

"The help was more than forthcoming. The social welfare ministry gave us a grant, now a continuous one; the house of Tatas helped us tide over the financial difficulties," says Prasad. Today, Pathway has more than 300 children under its protective wings, a special education programme, speech therapy and audiology, occupational therapy, psychiatric and neurological services, pre-vocational exploration and vocational training.

One of the primary focus areas of Pathway is to bring about "mainstreaming" for the mentally handicapped and brain-damaged children. "Given that no two children have identical problems and that no case is replicable, we have to evolve a specific plan for every child. The vocational training takes this aspect into account. We have trained kids in screen-printing, jewellery making, housekeeping and cleaning."

Pathway is also involved in training the trainers. "We have sought to replicate the syllabus of the Brigham Young University, Utah, US. This will help create enough human resources to address the challenge of coping with disability," observes Prasad. The initial push given by Prasads has put Pathway on autopilot. "Contributions are flowing in; the support system is in place, plans for expansion and better methods of helping the disabled are also there. What we do not have are skilled helpers in large numbers," observes Prasad. Should you want to help, contact A.S.D.N. Prasad, founder-director, Pathway, E-76/1, 12th West Street, Kamaraj Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur, 600041. Phone 044-4928949; e-mail: pathwayindia@vsnl.com.