Abhaya Care Foundation lends a helping hand to children with disabilities

Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh only has a handful of schools that empowers disabled children. One of the most prominent names amongst these schools is Abhaya Care Foundation, popularly known as ARMS.

This school reaches out to children with all kinds of disabilities. ARMS was founded in 2010 by Dr V Sindhu. With the help of a few people, Sindhu started two centres at Vijayawada and Hyderabad. Dr Sindhu who was a physician, always wanted to do something for children with disabilities. She knew that Vijayawada lacked a good school when she tried to look out for something for her son who had autism. That is how she decided to start ARMS. Today, children with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, dyslexia and multiple disabilities are part of this school.

What makes ARMS even more unique is the fact that they admit only children who has severe disabilities. They claim that unlike most schools, they want to reach out to children with disabilities who have undergone various problems. So most of the students that they have now were denied admissions in other schools due to their disabilities!

I want to reach out to more disabled children and empower them. To start with, we need parents to be trained and equipped on how to handle their child who has a disability. Today, parents are definitely more aware when compared to previous years. Many people have asked me why my school does not support a residential programme. Children deserve the love and care of their mothers. I don’t think it is fair to snatch that away and admit them into residential programmes. Children with and without disabilities must grow up with the guidance of their mothers. Nothing can replace that- Dr V Sindhu, Founder, Abhaya Care Foundation

ARMS focuses on early intervention programmes and vocational training. So their centre in Vijayawada is primarily for early intervention and academics. Their Hyderabad centre provides vocational training and empowers children and teenagers with disabilities. Here, they are taught to make candles, paper bags, painted diyas, gift envelopes and more. They are also taught basics of computers, data entry and so on.

They ensure that children are introduced to occupational therapy and life skills, speech and yoga therapy and functional academics as well.

ARMS believe that people in rural parts of Andhra Pradesh still have a long way to go when it comes to awareness on disabilities. So their main mission is to spread this awareness amongst the masses.

“People in our rural areas have a lot of potential which is unexplored. We need to tap those skills which will help our nation in many ways. We hope to reach out to more people in rural areas too”, says Dr V Sindhu.

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