A personal experience led the Gattus to open this Hyderabad centre for kids with multiple disabilities

It was a person experience that led Himabindu and M Gattu to start the Abhilasha Research Centre for Children with Special Needs in Hyderabad.

The couple were studying in the United States when their child Abhinanad was born. He had a big circumference and doctors said that a surgery would put him at high chances of suffering a stroke. And that is what happened when he was three years old. The stroke affected his vision and hearing.

The Gattus came back to India with Abhinand, determined to do the best for him as well as other children with multiple disabilities.

When we started Abhilasha, our sole aim was to empower children with multiple disabilities. Being a mother, I know the hardships that parents undergo with a child who has special needs. Most of the children are left at home. Even today, many parents do not have any awareness on disabilities of their children. Abhilasha aims to create awareness- Himabindu Gattu, Co-founder, Abhilasha.

The centre does this by providing various kinds of services to children with multiple disabilities. There are physiotherapy sessions, occupational and speech therapy sessions, basic functional academics and psychological counselling.

The aim is enable children to carry out their daily activities with ease. There are special educators that help children achieve their best in the school. To ensure personalized attention, only 15 students are taken at a time.

“People do not show any special consideration for children with special needs. I run a school for them and I can vouch for this”, says Himabindu. “We have had many people ask us questions like why do we take our children for outings because they are disabled and are supposed to stay indoors. I would love my children to go out and explore more places. Recently, we went for an outing to the zoo and it turned out to be quite a challenge as there were no ramps or accessible toilets. But the smile on their faces was my biggest reward”.

Abhilasha takes in children from economically backward families as well. The Gattus are determined to make sure that people with limited means are not denied the opportunity to do the best for their kids. There are over three kids who are undergoing sessions at Abhilasha with the help of sponsors.

The centre also runs a home-based programme for parents of children with disabilities. This is to make them aware and sensitize them to the day to day challenges.

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