We know that disabled people want to work and what they need is an opportunity. Dr Madhumita Puri, a psychologist, who was dealing with children with physical and mental disabilities at AIIMS in 1992 gave birth to the Society for Child Development, a non-profit organisation, to create a world of equal opportunities for specially-abled people.
Dr Puri started Prabhat because she felt there was a great need for such a facility. She says, “I began with my savings,” and confesses that initially the challenges were many, with the lack of financial resources topping the list. With no money to purchase raw material, training was difficult as the inevitable wastage of raw material led to financial losses. “Given the fact that persons with intellectual disabilities are slow at learning, it was estimated that procurement of raw material without any output would not be sustainable. Thus, the choice narrowed to the use of material that could be donated regularly, such as unusable items from households, offices and manufacturing units to fabricate hand-crafted items. This program was then titled the Trash-to-Cash Employment Program,” she adds.
And soon video and audio tapes began looking like boxes of yarn, waste flowers created glorious colours, waste fabric yielded yards and yards of patchwork.
The T-to-C unit now has a group of 40 youngsters with intellectual disability, who create fabric, sheets of paper, dried petals and a finishing team comprising hearing impaired or physically challenged take over to make the final product like bags, coasters, folders, and other stationery items.
The T-to-C retail store is a recycled old rickshaw managed by a team of hearing impaired young men, which can be spotted at Delhi’s popular Dilli Haat on weekends and at the centre on weekdays.