INTRODUCTION
People with disabilities, who make up 15% of the world population, 8 in 10 live indeveloping countries. Far too many people with disabilities live in poverty, and many sufferfrom social exclusion and face widespread barriers in accessing their basic needs and are
denied access to education, health care, employment, social and legal support. And in
those developing countries, 9 out of 10 children with disabilities don’t go to school.
Majority of India’s persons with disabilities live in rural areas, and rehabilitation services andaccess to essential assistive devices is very minimal. Rehabilitation services and assistive
devices can be critical to enabling people to learn and communicate more effectively,
participate in home, school and work environments, live independently, and improve their
quality of life. Though there are many rehabilitation centres in the cities only a small
percentage of persons with disabilities are able to benefit from these affordable andappropriates services.
Mobility India (MI), an independent, democratic and secular disability and development
organization, was established in Bangalore, Karnataka, India in 1994, to bring a change tomake rehabilitation services available for majority of people with disabilities who are poor
living in rural and urban areas and are not within the accessible range of rehabilitation
service provision. Mr. Chapal Khasnabis, the founder Executive Director was instrumental
in establishing and shaping Mobility India. His vision and determination are the guiding
forces behind MI's success
Mobility India is committed to a Human Rights Based Approach and strives for the inclusionof people with disabilities, their families and other disadvantaged groups in all development
activities and to ensure that people with disabilities have equal rights and a good quality oflife. MI aims to contribute to the realisation of the Convention on Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD), Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities
in Asia and the Pacific, and national legislations on disability.
VISIONAn inclusive and empowered community where people with disabilities, their families andother disadvantaged groups have equal rights to education, health, livelihood and a goodquality of life.
PRIORITY
People with disabilities, the poor, particularly children, women and older people
1

FOCUSDisability-inclusive development
MISSION
 Assisting in poverty reduction among people with disabilities and facilitate their
inclusion and participation in all developmental programs such as access tohealth, education, livelihood and social security benefits.
 Promoting Inclusive Development & Rights Based Approach Making rehabilitation services accessible in unreached areas
 Developing appropriate human resources in the field of Disability, Development
and Rehabilitation at national and international levels
 Capacity Building of grassroots organizations in the field of disability,
development & rehabilitation through effective partnerships
 Development and promotion of the availability of appropriate technology at anaffordable cost and Realize the aspirations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities(CPRD), Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for persons withdisabilities and all related National Legislations on Disability and Development
Mobility India’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Centre – “Millennium Building on
Disability” established in 2002, is a state of the art model disabled friendly building withvarious accessibility features for all. It is an ideal model of how a building can influence
Changes in the Disability field and it houses various activities such as rehabilitation services,developing appropriate human resources to provide prosthetics/orthotics/wheelchair andtherapy services, assisting in poverty reduction programmes, access to education,
livelihood, healthcare, housing, promoting human rights and so on. It is also the only
Training centre in Karnataka in particular and South India in general to train and develop
manpower especially persons with disabilities in the field of Orthotics, Prosthetics andRehabilitation and also promotion of Community Based Rehabilitation.
Its Regional Resource Centre in Kolkata, established in 1998, caters to the rehabilitationneeds of the relatively economically backward North-Eastern Region. In addition, MI has
set up Field Offices in Bangalore slums and peri-urban and rural areas of Karnataka.
MI has perfected a blend of disability and non- disability at all levels, and is an innovative
organization of abilities and commitment to addressing the real needs of the people.
Mobility India has come up in a big way since its inception. It has grown tremendously
because of the need. MI has a team of 138 staff, of which 44 are PWDs; and 47% women).
- across all levels of the organisation, from board members to the grass root levels. The
staff members are excellent role models for others with disabilities in project areas who may
never have seen someone with a disability in paid employment. They also help to change
community attitudes by showing the potential capacity of people with disabilities.
Mobility India reaches out to people with disabilities who are less privileged and are notwithin the accessible range of rehabilitation service provision. This is due to factors likepoor socio economic conditions, lack of awareness, lack of appropriate services, educationand lack of basic health care facilities.
KEY AREAS OF WORK
2

1994 : Capacity Building of grass root organizations and AwarenessRaising in all aspects of rehabilitation is strengthened, to deliver quality
rehabilitation services, establishing/ upgrading prosthetics/orthotics workshop
with therapy facility. Through its mobile workshop, people can avail the services
even in remote rural areas. These organisations are in the Southern States, Eastand North Eastern part of India.
1999: Habilitation and Rehabilitation Services: Provides a full range ofaffordable, appropriate prosthetic, orthotic and other assistive devices along withphysio & occupational therapy services and wheelchair service provision andaccessible city taxis for wheelchair users.
1999 : Community Based Inclusive Development Programmes in line with
WHO CBR Matrix and CRPD: Working in 23 urban slums of Bangalore, 154
villages in per-urban and in 225 villages in rural areas
2002 : Training in Disability, Rehabilitation and Development: Mobility India
runs training programmes to develop professionals to work at the grass root level,
enabling a positive change in the disability field. Conducts various long term
training programmes in prosthetics and orthotics, rehabilitation therapy, and shortterm trainings in wheelchair service provision and community based rehabilitationin line with WHO and ISPO guidelines. It is the first school in India of having
accreditation of International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics.
Development and promotion of appropriate technology: Good quality andaffordable prosthetics/ orthotics components, machines, tools equipment’s anddevelopmental aids are developed , that are cost effective, light weight anddurable to benefit the needs of people with disabilities and could be fitted in aquick possible time. Transfer of technology within the country and to otherdeveloping countries Jaipur Foot Production Unit –It is most advanced
accessible production unit for making good quality Jaipur foot to meet the need ofpeople with disabilities within India and other developing countries. Anotherunique feature is, it is run and managed by women with disabilities
Collaboration and Networking with organizations, universities and research
institutes at local, national and international levels - World Health Organisation(WHO), International Society for Prosthetics & Orthotics (ISPO), Rehabilitation
Council of India (RCI), Rehabilitation International, Motivation-UK, Rajiv Gandhi
University of Health Sciences and so on.
Research and Publication: Conducts research activities related to disability,
rehabilitation and mobility/ assistive devices and Quality of Life
Every year approximately 3000 to 4000 people get benefit with our services
SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS
1997 - the rehabilitation aids workshop by women with disabilities
2002 - starting direct services and various long term as well as short training
programmes in the field of disability, development and rehabilitation
2003 facilitating agency for ABILIS (Finland) reaching to the remotest grassrootorganisations and promoting rights based approach2003 - the launch of pre – fabricated orthotic & prosthetic components
3

2006 MI hosted the Consensus Conference on wheelchairs in Bangalore, organizedby WHO, ISPO and USAID.
2008 and 2009. MI was involved in reviewing the WHO training packages on
wheelchair service provision2009 - MI was involved in reviewing the WHO CBR Guidelines and contributed to
the guidelines and the Disability Report of WHO.
2012 - The ‘First CBR World Congress’ was convened by Mobility India in its
capacity as the Organizing Secretariat, held at Agra

4

A MATRIX OF CHANGE - INCLUSION
IMPROVING THE QOL OF PWDS THROUGH CBRThe experience of MOBILITY INDIA in starting a CBR programme in 1999, in theurban slums of Bangalore city, Karnataka State, India and later expanding to Periurban and Rural areas of Karnataka - Inclusive Community Development
GenesisIn 1998, Mobility India with support from the United Nations Economic and Social
Commission For Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) started work on the “Trainers’ Training
Programme on Non-Handicapping Environment” in 5 slums of Bangalore City. This project
was part of a pilot project which was being implemented in three Asian cities using
guidelines to train disabled people as trainers "to promote a non-handicapping
environment" developed by UNESCAP. The pilot project was a 12-month training to work
as “change agents” to address the needs of persons with disabilities especially in poor
communities, of which 14 were students with disabilities (7 men and 7 women) were trainedby Mobility India.
In this process a number of barriers to development and inclusion were identified. Their firstbarrier was the difficulty they faced in being accepted by the community, both as persons
with disabilities and as resource persons for the community. The attitudinal barrier of lack ofacceptance was far greater than the barrier of poor drainage, for example, which proved
relatively straightforward to address.
During the community study it was found that children with disabilities in the school goingage are under-represented in schools and young adults with disabilities were usually homebound, were not involved in decision making process in their families nor were they
involved in productive activities. Most of which had more to do with the widely held belief
that it is not much persons with disabilities are capable of. Even if parents wish to send theirchildren to school, the educational facilities available were not sensitive to the needs ofchildren with disabilities. As a result many of the children and young adults with disabilities
were isolated.
It was also found that most of the persons with disabilities were less likely to have received
treatment (medical/ rehabilitation) for their particular disability. There was also a generallack of awareness about the prevention, identification and rehabilitation of people withdisabilities.
The start of the CBR programme Based on these experiences in the slums, the community based rehabilitation programmeof Mobility India started in 1999. During the planning phase MI conducted a door to door
survey with volunteers from the local community to identify and prepare a brief case studyof the persons with disabilities identified in the slums and their needs were assimilated.
Following which the CBR programme was initiated with the main objective to promote anenvironment in which both disabled and non-disabled children who are not in school are5encouraged to go to school, obtain an education and therefore have greater opportunities inlife. Again, the initial thrust was on provision of rehabilitation services and assistive devices.
But this model was more on medical and charity. MI soon realized in the long term it makes
very little difference in the lives of people with disabilities as the core issue to be addressed
was POVERTY.
The programme was then re-designed to involve young adults with disabilities and parentsof children with disabilities by organising them into self-help groups. Facilitating its
members in setting up income generating schemes relevant to the local community such as
vegetable vending, small business that enhances their income and in sustaining theirchildren in school. Hence MI strategy had been to address both poverty alleviation andeducation. This again prevented pwds from realizing their full potential and not much
involvement in the community activities.
Current project information: Mobility India is presently working in the 23 urban slums of
Bangalore, rural and peri urban areas of Karnataka in 369 villages and working with thepoorest people. Currently the CBR programme promotes a rights based approach withincreased focus on poverty alleviation and social change to bring sustainable change to
people with disabilities and their families, The focus is on building capacity in empowerment
to advocate for their rights, access to appropriate health care and rehabilitation, inclusive
education, livelihoods, and to be able to fully participate in the social, cultural and economic
activities in their communities. The two-way link between poverty and disability makes
community development process imperative.

Objective of the project is: Empowerment of people with disabilities and their community
to access and enjoy their rights and entitlement in society through community based
interventions
The project is built around the CBR Matrix and the UNCRPD guidelines. The project plan
gives importance to alleviate poverty in the region and its activities demonstrates linkages
with various stakeholders in the community to address the issue. Capacity building of
PWDs and community for active participation and to take up ownership of the project once
the funding is over is given importance. Local structures are empowered to take up thisrole, in a rights based approach. Cross cutting issues like gender, child protection,
HIV/AIDS, Accessibility and barrier free environment, environment, appropriate technology,socio-cultural, attitudes, etc is worked out in the plan. Disability is placed as a development
issue and plan shows efforts taken in mainstreaming disability in general community
development programmes.
Community-based initiatives aims at the local community structures / federations / DPOs totake over the programme, ensuring local funding of continuing activities
Empowerment and Sustainability is only possible with Community participation:
Mobility India has followed the strategy of community mobilization and sensitizing the entire
community, involving key stakeholders participation and ownership from the day one, totake a collective responsibility and make necessary modifications for the full participation ofpeople with disabilities in all areas of social life. The approach is guided by two principles:
not to be adversarial and to promote authentic grassroots participation in coalition of6

stakeholders and in seeking to support the admirable provisions of government policy bybridging the gap between them and local community practice
The programmes was on building the capacities and empowering persons with disabilities
and their families, community in creating awareness, dissemination of knowledge,
developing their ability to critically review issues while making informed choices concerning
their well being.
A process by which people are enabled to become actively and genuinely involved indefining the issues of concern to them, in making decisions about factors that affect theirlives, in formulating and implementing policies, in planning, developing and delivering
services and in being responsible to take actions to achieve change and live a life withstatus and dignity.
The CBR programme has been able to draw extensive support from the local community,
local government, elected representatives and other resource agencies in Bangalore.
Mobility India’s technical and training resources have been employed in developing andimplementing effective and appropriate rehabilitation plans for all children and adults withdisabilities in the project area.
Project Planning and Design• A separate project design is made for each project area to ensure it is relevant to the
local context and the needs of local stakeholders.
• Activities are more closely aligned with CBR matrix and built around the CBR Matrix
and the CRPD guidelines.
• At the start of project in each area, field workers are selected from the local
community and a baseline study conducted to identify people with disabilities• Focus group meetings conducted with various stakeholders, with particular priority
given to people with disabilities and their families. Information from the focus groups
is then analysed and are then used to raise awareness of the project and develop
annual action plans.
• Withdrawal from the project area, is developed at the planning stage to ensure thesustainability of the CBR activities and in implementing the CBR components.
• MI adopted a 'twin-track approach' to carry out both 'service-based' and 'rightsbased' activities
Mobility India’s approach for ensuring community participation and ownership•

Recruiting CBR personnel and engaging volunteers from local communities, whichhelps in understanding local situation, influencing people and also they continue tobecome the permanent resource for the community (knowledge and skills obtained
over the years) which supports in sustainability of the programme.

•

Identified and influenced the key leaders in the official positions of power (local
government leaders, community group leaders), and identified people who haveinfluence in the different development sectors (health, education, livelihood andsocial).

7

•Conducted consultation meetings with different stakeholders to understand theirviews on the issues of people with disability and the community as whole.

•

The community’s negative attitudes towards people with disability was because oflimited knowledge about disability—Various awareness programmes organized toraise people’s awareness on disability, importance of education, health that benefits
the larger community and the action they can take towards creating inclusive society.

•To build the trust and credibility within the community various activities were initiatedwhich was not only benefiting peoples with disabilities even other community
members for e.g. (Health awareness programme, health screenings, school
improvement, sanitation, accessibility etc).

•

Provided the technical supports for the activities of the other stakeholders in thecommunity e.g. (Training school teachers on different teaching methodology, training
primary health centre workers on early identification and intervention of impairmentsetc.).

•

Included other marginalized members of the community in all activities of the
programme for eg (Self-help group, children’s group, educational programmes,
general health programme, cultural activities etc).

•

Create a positive approach towards children with disabilities by focusing on theirabilities and their capacities to learn, influencing the local government policies tomake existing education facilities accessible and inclusive for children withdisabilities, setting up community education centres in each village, training the local
volunteers as community tutors and ensuring people with disabilities receive
appropriate rehabilitation services•

Encouraged people with disabilities, their family members and disabled people
organisations to take part in different events for addressing the community issues
along with other members of the community.

•

Collaborating and networking with local governance, NGOs and other institutions tocreate opportunity for skill development and employment. Capacity building is an
ongoing process in the entire process.

As a result of this• Most of the activities of the programme are been carried out with the contribution of
the community (personnel, kind and financial).
• Community has adopted positive attitudes towards people with disabilities and theirfamilies.
• Community has been involved in identifying people with disabilities, their problems
and finding solutions for the same.
• Community has created the opportunity for people with disabilities and their family
members to have equal participations in their activities.
• PWDs are having equal participation in all the activities of life
• Inclusive Policies are developed – (Right to Education, 3% reservation in all thepoverty elevation schemes, Policy for youth)• Self -confidence and self-esteem have increased• Increased in acceptance and socialization in community8•Improved in the economic status of the families

Few activities as an example:
Importance of Education leading to Inclusiveness and Development
Community Supplementary Education centre: One of the objectives of the CBR is toimprove the quality of village schools and ensure access to education for all children
including those who are disabled or marginalised for any socio-economic and cultural
reasons. Mobility India believes that involvement of the entire community is required to
improve the education system, to ensure access to education and make the school
environment inclusive.
Mobility India initiated supplementary education centres for supporting children withdisabilities and non-disabled children to improve their physical, mental and social
developments. This centres functions every day 2 hours in the evenings. This activity also
further supports in building and strengthening the relationship between children withdisabilities and non-disabled children. As mentioned above with various consultation andawareness programme the community understood the benefit of the activity and their
responsibility. The community contributed 90% of the expenses of running this centre informs of (human resource- volunteers, place, electricity, teaching materials etc). Mobility
India provided technical support (training the tutors) and paid small monthly honorarium.
This honorarium is paid to increase their interest and motivation. The local government andcommunity have now taken responsibility in paying this honorarium for teachers.
Children voices - Children’s Parliament
A very important initiative by Mobility India
on how children with disabilities are actively engaged in creating social change in theircommunities. Mobility India believes that children are the great resources and the bestchange agents for any social reform
Children’s voices and opinions are seldom heard and often recognised as disobediencein a hierarchical Indian Society. They are rarely part of the privileged class in thesociety that can have an opinion on any issues; they are expected to perpetuate thetrusted cultural traditions with all the prejudices attached, such as preference for a malechild to be in school or to have a better opportunity for education, living standards,
sports and recreation. Children with disabilities, especially girls with disabilities haveless opportunity to enjoy all these opportunities. One hand there is less facilities andpolitical will and on the other all kinds of negative social norms and stigmas.
Towards this, the CBR programme introduced the concept of Children’s Parliament toencourage children to use their voices in order to motivate the community to respect
the rights of children and promote inclusion, local schools in particular.
Children’s parliaments are organised at a local village level in the CECs, where children
with and without disabilities meet and discuss issues relevant to them and their village.
Mobility India supports children with disabilities to be included in the children’s
parliaments in order to develop a sense of responsibility and leadership amongst
themselves. Children are elected as ministers (in areas such as education, health,Social Affairs etc) and develop an action plan to address issues that are raised by thegroup.
9

Achievements
•

•

•

•

•

•

•
•

The rate of school drop-outs is declining; the members initiated visits to each houseand with the help of counselling, children were re-enrolled to school. Moreover,children with disabilities uses wheelchair and their parents’ faces difficulties in bringing
them to school since they as well need to go for work. The children group members
have taken the responsibility to assist these children to school regularly.
Health, Hygiene and Safety is promoted by the children group members in regularintervals through rallies and awareness programmes. By doing so, many changes havetaken place in the villages and the roads and, drainage system are in better condition
as a result which has helped the entire community.
Another children’s group took up the issue on poor cooking of food in theirgovernment school giving mid-day meals. Most of the time the rice was not wellcooked and many children were not able to have lunch properly. Children often
complained of stomach pain and were irregular to school. The group therefore gave
written complaint to the school management committee and visited one of theschool management committee member’s home and discussed the matter. The
committee took the issue seriously; currently they also make sure that one of themembers visit the school every day to check the food before providing it to children.
Another issue taken up by the children’s group was about one of the school toilets
which had no door. It was becoming difficult for the girls to use the toilet. Thisissue too was shared with the school management committee, Education Officer
and member of the panchayath. The committee has decided to construct a newschool with better facilities as this was already in consideration and they also took
the members of the children’s group to show the place where the school withaccessible toilets will be constructed as early as possible.
A village had no working street lights, which made it difficult for people to see atnight especially those with difficulties seeing. The children’s group identified one
young girl with low vision who had difficulties attending her coaching classes in theevening because there were no working street lights. With the help of the local
governance, the group members mobilised resources and within 18 days the entire
village was provided with the street lights. The whole community benefitted from thechildren’s group’s initiative to provide street lights so this girl with low vision can get
to her class.
One of the groups identified a child with severe disability in their village whoseparents were not interested to send him to school. The mother of the child was notable to carry him every day to school as their house was located on the 1st floor.
The childrens’ group visited the boy’s house and motivated the mother. They
offered to take him to the centre with the support of a wheelchair if the mother was
willing to somehow help the child come down the stairs. Now the child is attending
coaching class centre (CEC) regularly.
During elections in Karnataka, the members of the children’s panchayat conducteda rally in their respective villages encouraging all persons with and without
disabilities to vote and emphasized on the right to vote for persons with disabilities.
At the time of data collection for Census 2011, all groups conducted awareness intheir villages and among their peers on the need to ensure that persons withdisabilities are included in census 2011.

10

Reflection
1. Girls’ participation (CWDs and Non-CWDs) shows an increase. The increaseindicates a perspective change in the society. It shows that the society isimproving towards MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empowering women.
2. Ensuring enrolment of children with disabilities in the mainstream education
programme, retention and re-enrolment of school drop-outs by lobbying throughlocal governance and with SHGs has created awareness on education encircling awider platform. MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
3. The participation of CWDs has helped to promote Social Inclusion. The step topressurise the concerned authority to have accessible infrastructure encourage
CWDs to attend school without hesitation (CRPD Art.24, 29, 30)
4. MI has been able to draw extensive support from the local community. Local
government , elected representatives and other organizations. Disabled persons alongwith their family members and the community are now aware of their rights and theircollective strengths, have the necessary skills and resources to ensure access toexisting services and facilities. PWD’s and their families have come together andformed self help group through which they are able do savings and credits, this activity
helped them to initiate their own income generation programmes, support theirchildren access education and attain appropriate health services.
5. The community (NGOs, Govt, Institution, Hospitals) are actively involved in all theprocess of the programme and also including disability as one of the agenda in theiractivities. Person with disability have started to be seen as full members of society
who have important contributions to make to their families and communities.

Some of the good practices•

2 Volunteers were trained along with the community facilitators to take up the project
implementation even after Mobility India withdraws from the target area. Currently boththe volunteers are taken as staff of the society and they are resuming work withresponsibility.

•

A guideline for utilization of 3% was developed in line with CBR Matrix and is being
passed to all the panchayath of the taluk. As a result of this, they have included
disability as one of the agenda during their panchayath meeting and are utilising 3% ofbudget allocation for the development of persons with disabilities in areas of (Education,
fee and rent for running resource center, Medicine, Surgery, Summer camp, ID Camp,
vehicle for referrals, Eye camp, Prizes for Sports and Culture event).

•

Political Participation: Persons with disabilities and their families are motivated toactively participate and as a result, 7 members have been elected at the panchayat
level -5(F) and 2(M).

•A co-operative society with an objective to develop unity among PWDs, their family
members & other marginalised groups and improve the economic status of the families
is formed and registered as Janapriya Angavikalara Sangha. . Through much
lobbying, a land has been sanctioned by the government to Janapriya Angavikalara
Sangha.
11

•

•

•

•

Capacity building and Skill transfer: Capacity building initiatives taken up especiallyfor family members of persons with disabilities in therapeutical services, simple repairs
and maintenance of assistive devices. Capacity building of local carpenters, welders,masons and others in the community formakingrequired developmental
aids/
Healthadaptations as per needs of persons with• Conduct assessment programme and support fordisabilities taken up.
aids and appliances• Support for corrective surgery• Conduct awareness programmes• Conduct eye screening programme and provide
spectacles
Education• Provide educational materials for children withdisabilities and children with learning difficulties• Provide honorarium for Coaching class teachers• Provide reward for children with disabilities
Livelihood• Support for initiating Income generation
programme• Support to undergo vocational skill training• Equal opportunity for PWDs under Rural
Employment Guarantee Act
Social• Ensure barrier free environment in public places• Support for accessing bus pass
• Support for accessing Disability Identity Card
• Support in constructing disabled friendly latrines
as per their need
• Organize sports events• Make wall writings in all the villages to createawareness on different schemes• Organize inclusive summer camp

Resource Mobilisation: Initiated to collect
regular donation from companies, institutions,
local panchyats and individual donors.
Outsourcing jobs are routed through theJanapriya Angavikalara Sangha so that there
is regular income as well as monitoring andfollow-up. These are grants through which
the DPO – Chaitanya Angavikalara Ookuta
operates.
Human Resources: local community
members are resourced as volunteers, freeservices are also provided by the healthprofessionals, college students are taken as
interns.
Local Panchayat: Assisting in utilisation of
3% budget within their administration for
persons with disabilities through awarenessbuilding, guiding local panchayat indeveloping an annual action plan on thelines of CBR Matrix:

Empowerment• Quarterly once meeting to be conducted with
PWDs to review the action plan
• Ensure that all the departments to present theirprogrammes and budget related to PWDs andtheir family members during the gramshaba• Ensure children with disabilities are given equal
opportunity during the children gramshaba

Picture from Neraluru Panchayat
Total Allocation for 2013-14 is Rs.500,000/••

Health:Education:

Rs.150,000
Rs.125,000
12

•
•
•

•

•

•

Livelihood:Rs. 100,000
Social:Rs. 75,000
Empowerment: Rs. 50,000

To enjoy rights and access entitlements :Mobility India supports people withdisabilities to form SHGs and then establish larger Disabled People’s Organisation(DPO) made up of representatives of the SHGs. The DPO has undertaken a range ofdifferent advocacy activities
Local access audit team: after trainings on accessibility and universal design, a local
resource team of nine members (cross disability) is formed within the members of the
Chaitanya Disabled Peoples Organization - 2 people using wheelchairs (PPRP, Spinal
cord injury), 2 people with visual impairment, 1 low vision, 1 person walking with thesupport of crutches, 1 walking without a stick, and 1 boy with neurological problems,
apart from this 1 carpenter who is also a father of disabled boy is being included
because he can support in taking the appropriate measurements and also help indesigning the structure with local resources.
As a result of lobbying with the authorities, the group has been successful in making 1Panchayath office, 2-Schools, and 1-Police station accessible. A policy has also
been formulated and circulated to the planning department to ensure that all upcoming
public infrastructures have accessibility features.

Key Factors of Mobility India’s Success
Provision of disability specific supports and services to enable participation of people withdisabilities in the community
Mobility India’s approach to rehabilitation has been particularly successful because most of
the CBR workers (Community Facilitators) are themselves persons with disabilities
and have become role models in the community. In project implementation, they were not
only able to empathise with other persons with disabilities, but also empower them bybuilding their confidence to actively participate in the programme for self-development.
Provision of rehabilitation and assistive devices either in centre-based or community-based
settings are central to Mobility India’s approach as it is a useful way to access communities
and gain their trust. It improves people’s functional abilities which enable them to actively
participate in their communities. However as culturally it is considered inappropriate forwomen to receive rehabilitation services from men, Mobility India strategized training andemploying women with disabilities in technical areas such as prosthetics production

13and as therapy assistants in order that women even from rural communities could haveaccess to rehabilitation services.
Therapy services are part of a broader CBR approach. People with disabilities receive
home-based therapy and assistive devices as needed with support from the rehabilitation
professionals - (Therapist, Rehabilitation Therapy Assistants, Prosthetics and Orthotics
Technicians). Their prime focus is on health and they network with other medical healthprofessionals in and around the area, while the field workers (Community Facilitators)
support people with disabilities on other development areas - education, livelihood, social,
empowerment and in mainstreaming. Activities taken up are for example to form SHGs,
advocate with schools, employers and community members to increase their participation in
the community. These approaches complement each other and any one approach would
not be as effective without the other.
Using such a comprehensive approach to rehabilitation requires significant coordination.
Mobility India has found that using a team (including therapists, CBR workers etc) todevelop each individual intervention plan and then bringing the same team together toreview the plan has been a successful way of ensuring a coordinated approach.
Empowering people with disabilities to advocate for their rights
Mobility India works with SHGs and DPOs to develop their advocacy skills and support
them to claim their rights. It was found that advocacy is far more effective and sustainable
when local people with disabilities themselves are empowered to advocate as they know
the issues most important to them. The project has found that people with disabilities havefor many years experienced their rights being ignored or abused. Often the first step toempowerment is supporting people with disabilities to understand that they have a right as
any other person to equally access all benefits afforded to citizens in their society. Oncepeople with disabilities have received training, the project helps to establish linkages
between DPOs and the local/State bodies to ensure a platform is in place for people withdisabilities to voice their concerns.
Building capacity of governments, institutions and service providers to implement
disability inclusive approaches
As well as providing direct rehabilitation support, Mobility India carefully selects andestablishes partnerships with other organisations operating at a grass roots level, to build
their capacity to provide rehabilitation and assistive devices and implement disability
inclusive approaches. As part of this project, five new partner organisations were selectedin Andhra Pradesh state to receive support from Mobility India. This significantly increases
the outreach of the organisation and allows people living in rural areas to access services
closer to home rather than needing to travel to the cities. Mobility India has found thatdeveloping a small number of partnerships, each which last for three to five years; agreeing
clearly on roles and responsibilities; and signing formal agreements with the partners has
assisted to make these relationships successful.

14

While Mobility India, in partnership with DPOs, has helped increase government awarenessof the rights of people with disabilities it has not been as involved in increasing the capacityof governments to uphold these rights. As a result, local government often call on Mobility
India for advice and assistance and then rely on the organisation to implement the activities
under various schemes.

15CONCLUSION
MI’s experience of implementing CBR programmes has highlighted the fact that social
exclusion and lack of access to basic services disable a person more than his/her
impairment. Community participation is important for the success of CBR programme.
Community mobilization strategy should be the essential elements in CBR programme.
Engaging community members and empowering them will ensure in removing the barriers
which exist in community and play an active role in the inclusion of people with disabilities
and their families in community activities with a multi sectoral approach that covers all
aspects of life, including attitudes change in the communities
Community participation can involve a significant shift from providing activities for existingand potential audiences to involving them in the development of activities. Community
development approach should support in integrating disability perspective into every facetof community activity, from childhood education to nutrition, from agriculture to sanitation,and income-generating enterprises. The medical model cannot be ignored as there aredisability specific interventions to reduce impairments and enhance functioning throughnecessary healthcare services. Programmes that engage community deeply in the work ofcommunity development raise more resources, achieve more results, and develop in amore holistic and—ultimately—more beneficial way. All these strongly emphasizing theneed for community participation in the CBR programmes in all stages for achieving thegoals, and sustainability of the programmes.

CBR must adapt different models based on the situation, but itneed to be in the perspective of right based.
LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND, INCLUDING THOSE WITHDISABILITIES

Ms. Albina Shankar
Director
MOBILITY INDIA
1st & 1st “A” Cross, J.P.Nagar 2nd Phase
Bangalore 560078. Karnataka – INDIA
Tel: +91-080-26492222/ 26597337/ 26491386 (Ext-111)
Mobile: +91 9845467862
Fax: +91-080-26492222 Ext.110
Mail: albina@mobility-india.org

16