Deen Dayal Day Care Centre was functional in District Barabanki. It is a day care centre for children with disabilities who were getting support and care including food, training, equipment, stationary, physiotherapy, care and other facilities, free of cost. The number of children in the shelter home were 20. These children came from economically weak backgrounds such that their parents can’t afford basic care and education for them. The aim to start this centre was to mainstream these children in the society and support them as much so that they can be independent in the future.

We were running the school and day-care centre for special children where they can be groomed and made independent for past 22 years. The disabilities seen in these children are varied: birth disorders, cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, muscular dystrophy, polio, mental retardation, hearing and speech impairment. Most of the children enrolled here belong to poor socio-economic background. Here the organisation provides them freshly cooked nutritious meals and snacks to cover up for their maximum nutritional requirement. This in turn would result in holistic development of the CwD.

Here they also received basic education according to their abilities. All of them learned to distinguish colours and counting. They participated in physical activities, played games and learned handicrafts. The birthdays of children, various festivals etc. are still celebrated in the home from time to time. We also encouraged community members to celebrate their birthday with our children as this gave them exposure to quality time with people, they considered aloof of them. Due to ending of the project with reasons like COVID-19, we still try to support our children with disabilities in the community.

Sadbhawna Samiti celebrated International Disability Day on 3rd November at the day care centre for children with disabilities. The centre was decorated and painted by the team and our children, ten days prior to the big day. The main guest invited for the event was, Kiran Bawa who is a business woman as well as a philanthropist. She is based in Mumbai and has work Pan India. Other stakeholders invited were the officer for Empowerment of People with Disabilities, NGO fraternity in Barabanki as well as Lucknow, Tehsildar, Village Pradhan, Lekhpal, SHG Leaders, parents of our children etc.

The event commenced with cake cutting ceremony by the chief guest and the children. Kiran Bawa had a talk with the parents giving them an assurance that disability shouldn’t be seen as a problem because there is a solution. The stakeholders addressed everyone and spoke out their hearts on the theme of inclusiveness and equality. Then the main guests distributed sweaters and sweets to the children of the centre. The cake and other snacks were distributed amongst everyone who visited the centre along with the children who gathered from different areas.

Sadbhawna Samiti organises or is part of various events on CwDs and PwDs in Barabanki and Lucknow. There is a strong presence of our organisation in this field since we are instrumental in such supporting CwDs since a long time. above than normal children of their age and limited access. It is a big burden for a family to take care of a child who is affected with a disability. Therefore, like last year, this year also we distributed woollen clothes on 14th Nov 2023 on the occasion of Children’s Day. We also distributed 6 wheelchairs and 5 crutches to our students and other differently able persons from nearby villages on World Disability Day.

It is well established fact that disability awareness programs at schools have led young children to gain empathy and have positive attitudes. We conduct training in schools as well, which enables children to develop an awareness of disability, allowing them to learn about the needs, challenges and unique life experiences of disabled people. We aim to create positive attitudes towards disability by encouraging children of all age groups to explore and understand disability through interactive workshops, games and debates. We organized such programs at following schools: