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Employment > Awards > N.C.P.E.D.P. - Shell Helen Keller Awards 2002

Poonam Natarajan: Empowering people with cerebral palsy

Poonam's single-minded dedication makes her an inspiring leader. Adopting innovative approaches to solving problems is her hallmark.

Poonam Natarajan has taken to heart the lines of Basavanna, the Kannada poet: “Things standing shall fall but the moving shall ever live.”

Her movement began in 1985 with the formation of Vidya Sagar (formerly The Spastics Society of India, Chennai). Being a PG Diploma holder in Special Education and a mother of a child with cerebral palsy, Poonam had a deep insight into the special needs of such children. She started Vidya Sagar with only three students on its rolls. Today, it serves over 1000 disabled persons at any one time!

Guided by Poonam’s extraordinary managerial capacity and commitment, Vidya Sagar is playing an important role in gainfully employing young adults with special needs. The Vocational Rehabilitation Programme of the Centre has at least 35 young disabled boys and girls in it at any given time. The Centre explores different models of employment and its young adults are encouraged to choose the work according to their likes. The Open Employment Unit identifies appropriate jobs in the community depending on the skill of each person. Young people who are not able to cope with the demands of open placements are encouraged to form multiple-ability cooperatives.

The neighbourhood initiative is a unique model in which units are run from the homes of four students. Vidya Sagar also runs a supported employment project in the campus of I.I.T., Chennai.

Poonam realises that education plays an important role in employment. The Inclusion Cell of the Centre strengthens its relations with neighbourhood schools, exploring all opportunities for getting admissions for their disabled students in regular schools.

Poonam has received the National Award from the National Centre for Cerebral Palsy in 1994 and has been awarded a British Council Scholarship in 1991.

Vidya Sagar
1, Ranjit Road, Kottarpuram,
Chennai 600 085
Tamil Nadu
Phone: (044) 2200533
Fax: (044) 2353757
E-mail: enable@vsnl.com

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