CHENNAI: Armed with the vision of creating inclusion and celebrating diversity, the Tamil Nadu segment of the Discoverability Awareness raising campaign, Munnetra Padhai-Badhte Kadam 2011, was flagged off on Wednesday. The campaign has been initiated by the National Trust along with The Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu. As a part of the third edition of this campaign, six volunteers will travel in a van to 32 districts of the state over the next seven days in a bid to reach out to over 10,000 people. There will be campaign mela points at eight districts.L V Jayashree, Director, The Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu said, “The success of our earlier editions has given us the strength to reach out to more people this time. Thanks to the efforts of all the stakeholders who work for the differently-abled, we now see a paradigm shift from a charity-based approach to a rights-based approach on this issue. However, a lot of work still needs to be done.”The volunteers throughout the rally will focus on educating the public regarding the rights and entitlements, as guaranteed under the United Nations Conventions on the Rights and Dignity of persons with disabilities. They will also seek to create an awareness about the various programmes and schemes under the state government and the National Trust meant for the welfare of the differently-abled. They also plan to celebrate diversity through various talent shows and cultural programmes. Meetings with the district administration to sensitise them on dealing with the issues of the differently-abled are also on the agenda.These volunteers from various NGOs who work for the differently-abled will be led by Arun Aloysius Magesh, social worker from The Spastic Society of Tamil Nadu. A K Raju, a differently-abled person, who now runs his own NGO for the differently-abled, will share his personal trials and triumphs with the target audience, which he hopes will induce ‘The never give up spirit’ in other differently-abled people. N Krishnamurthy, a parent of a differently-abled child, will address the concerns of the parents in dealing with differently-abled children. The team also includes Alexander, a special educator, and M Ragini, a social worker. En route, they will distribute pamphlets on the rights of the differently-abled. The campaign was flagged off by Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT-Madras, in the presence of Sunil Kumar, Centre Head, World Bank, Brykyta Shelton, US Embassy, Poonam Natarjan, Chairperson, National Trust, Government of India, Srinivasan, District Differently-abled Welfare officer, Govt of Tamil Nadu.This campaign will come back to the Spastic Society of Tamil Nadu, Chennai on November 24. It is a part of the national campaign, which is currently going on across the country.
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