A Ray of Light Towards An Inclusive Society

Another day dawned beautifully and I got started with my routine a bit more active than any other day; might be because I had plans to visit a school of differently abled kids.

Much to my enthusiasm, I finished my household chores quickly and was out on a bike with my husband to the special school.

We were greeted by two volunteers at the child development centre. Quickly I introduced myself, my husband and expressed my interest in learning about their activities for the special kids,if they needed any support.  To my surprise in a reluctant tone, the 2 volunteers said they have been into this service for about 22 years and have already explored most of the possibilities to help in the growth of the differently abled kids there. They added it is easy to talk about helping, but very difficult to train a mentally retarded kid and do something fruitful. It is not impossible, but very tough. 

I felt a pinch at that point in time thinking about the special kids. My heart nagged finding them being reluctant in accepting or getting convinced about the possibility in finding some growth opportunity for the mentally retarded kids. The volunteers were kind though and continued detailing us further.

Had I visited them before my awareness on inclusion, I would not have felt any sort of pinch and might have even nodded simply to them. However now, after being aware of the magical powers of inclusion and realizing every child has some special gift, my heart budged to ignore or deny any chance of hope for the differently abled.

Moving on further I saw a display of souvenirs created with the help of special kids there at the centre. There were beautiful paper bags, paper plates, files, scribbling pads and many more. They were amazing. 

The volunteers there carry out major tasks like screen printing, designing and involve the kids in all small tasks that are possible by them.

It seems they also took bulk orders and supplied paper plates, bags etc for weddings, conferences etc. The revenue of it was used for child development.

There ended my visit with few instilling thoughts flashing my mind on the way back home:

From the day I started thinking about inclusion, the differently abled kids, their problems etc started surfacing to my eyes or become visible to me.

Had I not  volunteered for India Inclusion Summit I would have definitely not thought of visiting the special school today and extending a helping hand

Wow!  we already have an inclusive society where in people appreciate the little efforts of the special kids, special organizations and respect their work by placing bulk orders of their souvenirs at a dearer price

 In future if I was to organize a function or buy a gift for my friend I must take it from such centers

 I must spread the inclusive message to my friends and bring them a bigger support

Such thoughts of mine are just few drops in the ocean of inclusive society.   

Today IIS (India Inclusion Summit) made me think! Tomorrow I make my friends think and next my friends make their dear ones think!

So forth if each one of us multiply such drops of inclusive thoughts and support inclusion, then I surely sense a ray of light towards an Inclusive society.