The high incidence of mental handicap here can partly be explained by a tradition, still-practised, which allows men to marry their elder sister's daughters. ADD India tries to help the disabled community in Tamil Nadu on a number of levels. With the money comes employment. Recipients have successfully reared goats and sheep, set up cycle lending businesses, and bought sewing machines. But ADD's main objective is to transform the way in which disabled people are regarded within their own rural communities, and how they regard themselves.
Employment brings respect.
He used his loan to set up a tailoring business. Now I have got a lot more self-confidence. Thanks to ADD, the disabled in Pudukkottai run their own self-help groups or sanghas. The sangha decides who is worthy of a loan and ensures that repayments are made. The sangha also organises week-long camps in which girls like Nadia, now 11, are taught basic skills.