annual report 2013-2014

ANNUAL REPORT
2013-2014
ABOUT SOPAN
SOPAN is a registered Public Trust and Society of parents who are committed to providing
need-based services for children with autism and developmental disabilities and creating a
network of support for their families. SOPAN was started in 2002 and has since become a
reputed agency for service delivery in the disability sector in the country. SOPAN manages
several projects which work towards the collective mission of empowering persons with
disabilities.
SOPAN now manages two centres which educate and train children with autism and
developmental disabilities. It has set up a community based early intervention service which
gives services to children between the ages of 1 year to 6 years. Events like Annual Day, Health
Camps etc. are held together for all the 3 SOPAN centres.
SOPAN has been appointed as the State Nodal Agency Centre (SNAC) of Maharashtra by the
National Trust which is an autonomous organization of the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment, Government of India, set up under the “National Trust for the Welfare of Persons
with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities” Act (Act 44 of
1999). SOPAN fulfills the mandate of the National Trust by conducting several activities in
Maharashtra and promoting the schemes of the National Trust. Badhte Kadam, an awareness
program of the National Trust is conducted in Maharashtra by SOPAN.
To share its expertise in the field of autism, SOPAN conducts a short term course in autism and
several training programmes on a regular basis. SOPAN‟s main objective is to spread awareness
about autism and disabilities in order to garner community participation in order to achieve
inclusion of persons with disabilities.
Every year, the month of April is World Autism Awareness Month. At SOPAN, this month is
marked with several programs aimed at spreading awareness across Mumbai. This year, Radio
was also used as a medium for spreading awareness. A song on autism by the popular band
Vintagetaan was released by the National Trust on April 2. The video of this song was partly
shot at SOPAN. Walks, rallies, exhibitions etc. were held throughout this month to spread
awareness about autism.
A 3 month vocational training program under the Prime Minister‟s Skill Development Program
for young adults with autism and developmental disabilities began in March 2013. This program
is sponsored by National Institute of Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities
(NIEPMD).
SOPAN participates every year in the Mumbai Marathon. This year too, SOPAN registered with
United Way of Mumbai as one of the participating NGOs. Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited
(KMBL) sponsored SOPAN in the corporate sponsorship category. Several employees of KMBL
ran for SOPAN and raised funds to support the cause. Many others ran for SOPAN through the
charity bibs given out in SOPAN‟s name.
SOPAN is one of the NGOs supported by KMBL under their Payroll Giving Scheme. Employees
donate a fraction of their monthly salary to any of the NGOs supported by KMBL under this
scheme.
Many individuals, friends and well-wishers donate generously to SOPAN. The donations
received are utilized for the benefit of the students.
PROJECTS
Samarpan
Samarpan has completed 11 years of dedicated service to children with autism. Samarpan offers
a variety of services ranging from assessment and diagnosis, early intervention, remediation, prevocational and vocational training, related therapies
including
speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and
adaptive
physical education. The services are multidisciplinary in
nature
and follow autism specific and research based methods
such as
visual strategies, verbal behaviour analysis, sensory
integration therapy and alternative augmentative
communications. Music, Dance and Yoga therapy is also
given to the children.
Apart from its regular services of assessment, intervention
training several activities took place at Samarpan. The prevocational department of Samarpan makes several items
and
which are showcased at exhibitions held by corporates and other institutions. The items include
products made by the screen printing and art and craft departments. The pre-vocational home
Science department has now started a regular canteen service every day. Snacks are prepared and
given out at subsidized rates to the staff members and parents. The snacks range right from
sheera
and upma to sev puri and bhel puri.
All the
festivals were celebrated to ensure that the students
understand the significance and meaning of each
festival. For the past few years, the Sports day of
Samarpan has been organized in collaboration with
Ecole
Mondiale World School. The event is held on their
grounds and right from the uniform to the decorations, snacks and audio equipment is sponsored
by Ecole Mondiale. The chief guest of the event this year was the celebrity, Ms. Varun Davan.
He presided over the event and presented the medals and certificates to the all the students. He
even danced to popular Bollywood tunes with the students of Samarpan.
Centre for Developmental Disabilities (CDD)
CDD was set up as a collaborative venture between SOPAN and MCGM in 2010. This centre
was started for children with disabilities between the ages of 6 years to 18 years coming from the
neighbouring slums of K ward in 2010. The centre has more than 100 students enrolled.
Upon admission, a complete assessment of the student is conducted. The IQ of the student is
assessed and based on that, the student is placed in the appropriate group. A comprehensive
assessment in all areas is then conducted and an Individual
Education
Plan (IEP) is drawn up. The students receive all the therapies
(Occupational therapy,
Physiotherapy, Speech
therapy
and
Special education) as
per the
need. There are several students who attend mainstream
Schools and come for remediation to CDD. The students
who
have taken admission here have really progressed within
a span
of a few months.
Counseling sessions are also given to the parents from time to time. Individual as well as group
sessions are conducted to help the parents deal with their varied issues. The in-house
Psychologist counsels the parents regularly. Experts in the field are called for group counseling
sessions. Other programs like awareness about the Niramaya insurance policy are also conducted
to enable the parents with knowledge.
Human Resource Development Programs
SOPAN conducts a three month short term
autism every year. This course is open to parents,
teachers and any one with basic education;
learning about autism and the various methods
teaching them. This course imparts a lot of
knowledge. Throughout the year, SOPAN
training programs for parents, teachers and
and aims to develop human resources.
course,
in
professionals,
interested in
employed in
practical
conducts
professionals
Research
The research project to determine the prevalence of autism in the population of the western and
southern States of India launched by SOPAN is underway. The second level of the research
which was to document the effect of early intervention has resulted in Spandan in Mumbai.
Spandan has given free early intervention services to many children aged upto 6 years from the
urban poor pockets of K ward.
Spandan
SOPAN set up Spandan, a community-based early intervention project in 2011. This project
serves children with disabilities under the age of eight years. This project is partly sponsored by
Sir
Dorabji Tata Trust and Allied Trusts. It has been set up with a
mission
to provide families with support through early intervention
programs,
which can help them to address challenges so they are able to
set
the
foundation for lifelong learning, positive behavior, and
overall
development of the child.
It
aims to
involve children and their
families
to
promote
positive
family
and
community
experiences which would
benefit the child, improve the functioning of the family and
yield long-term gains for the community.
A multi-disciplinary team of professionals offer varied
services including psychological assessment; family guidance
and counseling; special education; speech therapy;
occupational and physical therapy at no cost to the family.
Through this program, children learn from everyday
activities and experiences where learning opportunities are structured and systematic techniques
are used to foster active engagement. This program enables and empowers children with
disabilities and their families to function effectively in the community at large. Thus, as the name
suggests Spandan hopes to bring about positive vibrations in society.
State Nodal Agency Centre(SNAC), Maharashtra, National Trust
The National Trust is an autonomous organization of the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment, Government of India, set up under the “National Trust for the Welfare of Persons
with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities” Act (Act 44 of
1999). SOPAN was appointed as the State Nodal Agency Centre (SNAC) of National Trust in
June 2011. All activities of the National Trust are conducted in Maharashtra by SOPAN.
Enrollment and information of all the schemes of National Trust are done by SOPAN in
Maharashtra.
Enrollment and disbursement of the Niramaya Health Insurance card is done at the SOPAN
centre. This card can be made for all persons with disability.
Badhte Kadam V an awareness campaign was conducted in urban/rural Maharashtra in
November 2013. The theme of Badhte Kadam V was
“Udaan”
and emphasis this year was on accessibility and
employability for Persons with Disability. This time our
objective
was to reach areas where Badhte Kadam has not been
conducted before so
that, we
are able
to reach across areas
where
awareness
levels
about
disability
is low and help in
making
people
aware of the rights of
Persons
with
Disabilities; thereby,
empowering them to fight for their rights. Several
districts
were covered.
SOPAN conducted several meetings with the National Trust registered organizations and the
Local level committees of Maharashtra.
Several training programmes on inclusive education were held. Many meetings under the
mandate of the National Trust activities were held at SOPAN Centre. Members of the Local
Level Committees and NGOs from all over have visited the centre and participated in various
meetings.
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
Annual Day
The SOPAN Annual Day was held in 6th October 2013. The students of the three centres of
SOPAN – Samarpan, CDD and Spandan
participated
in this event. About 80 children participated in this
event.
The theme of this year‟s program was “Around the
Children dressed in costumes representing people
countries all around the world came on stage and
popular Bollywood numbers. The program was
attended and appreciated by the parents and wellSOPAN.
World”.
from
danced
to
well
wishers of
World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD)
The United Nations has declared April 2nd every year as “World Autism Awareness Day”. For
the past few years, SOPAN has organized events every year to fulfill the objective of this day,
which is to spread awareness about autism. This year SOPAN has organized several events to
mark World Autism Day. This year, we got coverage on radio, which is an important medium to
reach out to the masses and organized several events to meet the objective of reaching out to
many people of all
sections of society. The
events are given in
brief below.
Event 1
Kotak Mahindra Bank
Limited (KMBL) is a
private
sector
organization that offers
banking
services
among
their
other
services.
An
exhibition cum sale of
products made by
students of Samarpan
was held on the
cafeteria floor of KMBL.
It included products
from
chocolates,
Jewellery,
pillow
covers, greeting cards,
All through the day the film made on Autism made by the band “Vintage Taan” was shown.
Event 2
Dr.Rubina Lal, President of SOPAN, was invited by Mumbai‟s leading English radio channels94.3 Radio One, on the 4th of April, to talk about autism during World Autism Awareness
Month. Radio Jockey Hrishikesh Kannan interviewed her between 9-10 a.m. on the Breakfast
Radio Show. The interview was divided into five segments, each intercepted by music and
commercial breaks. Posts and questions, relating to autism, by listeners tuned in to the radio
station, were also entertained through the RJ‟s social network handles on Twitter and Facebook.
During each segment, a different aspect of autism was discussed starting with understanding of
the term „autism‟, and continuing on to identification; causes; treatment; and research statistics of
the rate of autism in India and abroad. Other attention-grabbing points such as certain airline‟s
insensitivity to persons with autism, and adults with autism and their future, were also discussed
in the course of the interview.
Mass media is a powerful medium which can be used to bring about social and attitudinal change
amongst citizens. However, it is only when media channels, like Radio One, discern to discuss
sensitive and pressing issues, instead of just showcasing entertainment and drama, will they truly
be able to bring about a change in the mind set of
people. Through this interview, we know that we along
Radio One have played a considerable role in having
persons with autism be accepted and included as equal
members of society.
Event 3
While the sun was slowly dipping into the waters of the Arabian Sea, the staff; students along
with their parents; volunteers; and well-wishers of SOPAN, gathered at the Otter‟s Club end of
Carter Road on the 5th of April, 2013, all with the same thought in their minds- ‘Support Autism
Now!’ They walked along the 1.5 km Carter Road promenade carrying posters with messages on
autism,
screaming slogans on acceptance of persons with autism,
and
distributing flyers containing On reaching the other end of
the
promenade, a young band of talented vocalists and
musicians, Vintagetaan performed at the Amphitheatre.
They
performed their latest single on autism titled „It‟s the
Angel
in me‟ in English and „Alag hi Asha‟ in Hindi, which was
recently
released in Delhi on the 2nd of April, 2013.
Event 4
On Sunday, April 7, 2013, an awareness program was held at the foyer of Oberoi Mall. The
activities conducted here were as follows:
Disseminate information on autism by
distribution of pamphlets and putting up an
visual on a Television
Mehendi application
Nail art
Tatoo painting
Display cum sale of items made by
with autism
Interactive sessions with the general public
audio-
children
The
to the
stall.
at the
program started at 11.00 and finished at 8.00 pm. Due
various activities like nail art, tattoo painting and
mehendi application, many people were drawn to the
The showcasing of the film on autism was equally
interesting. People who visited the stall were amazed
skill of individuals with autism. A lot of myths about
autism were dispelled when people were given more
information about it.
Vocational Training Workshop
SOPAN was one of the NGOs selected in Maharashtra
to conduct
The Prime Minister‟s
Skill
Development
Program.
This
program is sponsored by
National
Institute
for
Empowerment of Persons
with
Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD). The number of beneficiaries under
this program is 25 young adults with autism and multiple disabilities. The skill which selected to
train these individuals was cloth bag making. The program is progressing successfully.
Ear Nose Throat (ENT) Camp
SOPAN organized an Ear Nose and Throat
(ENT) camp on
April 18 2013. The Camp was organized at
the building of
SOPAN‟s
administrative
office.
Children from
all the three
centres
of
SOPAN
attended
the
camp.
Children from
the
neighboring
Schools also
attended
the
camp. The doctor who conducted the camp Dr. Deepa Surve, is a practiced ENT Physician. She
was gentle and empathetic towards each child and she took special care to ease the fretfulness
and anxiety of the children. In the cases where corrective surgery or further follow- up was
required, the doctor advised the parents/teacher concerned to follow up with her at a later date.
She also recommended hospitals nearby by which could take care of the follow-up procedures.
The camp was held from 11.00 am onwards to 6.00 pm. More than 100 children attended the
camp. The feedback from the parents asxxsc The camp was hugely successful.
FUND RAISING
Mumbai Marathon
The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is an event which successfully raises funds for many
NGOs year after year. SOPAN has participated in the Marathon for the past few years. Many
individuals run for our cause under the charity bibs and the dream runner sections. SOPAN has
also been sponsored under the corporate challenge sector. All the people running for our cause
have raised donations successfully. This year Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited sponsored SOPAN
under the corporate sponsorship category.
Kotak Mahindra Payroll Giving Program
Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited has included SOPAN as one of the NGOs they support under the
Payroll Giving scheme. Under this scheme, every employee willingly donates a certain
percentage of his/her monthly earning towards any of the NGOs the company supports.
Individual donors
Many individuals, friends and well-wishers have donated generously to SOPAN. The donations
received are utilized for the benefit of the students.
Audited Accounts
Admin Off.: BMC School Building, Natwar Nagar Road No.5,
Jogeshwari (E), Mumbai – 400 060.
Tel. Nos.: 022-6504 3998/2832 8351/2832 8355
Website: www.sopan.org