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Q: When did you start this society? It was in 1985, in our car-shed. My son is spastic child. His birth changed my way of life and my career. I decided to be of service to mothers like me and to teach, train and guide these special children. We have been doing so for more than 15 years now. My experiences in bringing up my child exposed me to several shocking facts. Most of the schools for the normal children do not come forward to take these special children into their care. More over, special training is needed to train these children. Their individuality is to be assessed, watched and understood. This requires empathy as well as awareness, intellectually and emotionally. It has been our desire to spread the message and make everyone in the society to be aware of the need so that the spastic child is seen, understood and accepted as a special member of the society. Q: What are your activities at Vidyasagar? I am a social scientist. I am trained in speech therapy and physiotherapy. Apart from training the children, we train their parents and others to help these children grow and develop into useful citizens. Generally, illiterate parents and those from the lower rungs of the society do not pay proper attention to these children. They consider the special children as an unnecessary burden. Most tend to think that such children are manifestations of their sin. We educate such parents, enthuse them and show them the right direction. We are happy that we are able to contribute our mite in this respect. Q: Would you like to recall any incident that made you happy, in particular…? (Smiles softly.) It is our aim that each and every one of these children should be able to live on his or her own, without being dependent on anyone. Last week, one of our special children got betrothed. If this can happen to every special child, I would consider it as my reward, fulfilment of my mission in life. I was so happy to hear the news. After a pause and a smile that spoke volumes on her inner-feelings, she added, ‘But the disappointments are numerous…’ Q: What do you feel as a woman and as a mother of a special child? How does the society look at you?
In my younger days, like the girls of my age I also yearned for a man’s life – free of all care, worry and responsibility. I am happy now that I am past all that and have found my fulfilment in being a mother and in being a woman who has understood the joy of being a mother. Q: What are your immediate plans? To include these special citizens in the current census. There is no statistics available on the number of such children in the country. The government is not interested in knowing the number. This should be included and regulated and a proper and complete data available. We are doing our best to draw the attention of authorities concerned. Q: How many children have been trained by you so far? (Thinks for a while) Hmm… many… a large number. We have 12 branches all over Tamil Nadu. There are children who come to our centres from other states. There are children who come for part-time training and those who are studying in our school. There would be around 2000, for whom we think we are useful. I wish to make a special mention. One of our children, Gnanaprasanna is going to Prague, Czechoslovakia, to participate in a painting competition. All our effort and attention is devoted in completing the formalities and documentation and in getting a sponsor for her trip to Czechoslovakia. Hope we will be able to do this successfully. For more details: Contact - 2354784 Interviewed by Bama Chandran |
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Poonam Natarajan is the Director of Vidyasagar, Chennai. Vidyasagar was known as Spastics Society, till recently. Spastics Society needs no introduction to any Chennai citizen. The society has done excellent service to the special children who were stamped as mentally retarded. She has an M. Phil. from the Jawaharlal Nehru University. A Punjabi, who lived in Delhi for many years and married Natarajan, a Tamilian. From a conversation with her…
Our contribution is seen by all and is respected. A woman is naturally endowed with motherliness, love, patience, empathy and all such other feelings. A woman has the ability to understand others. In fact, this is the base on which Vidyasagar has been built.