I once asked a young man with disability ,who was training with us …. “what do you want out of life?”

After a while, he answered “Everyday, I want to  wake up in the morning, eat breakfast and leave for work. In the evenings, when I get back home, I want to relax and drink a cup of tea, then watch a bit of TV before dinner and sleep early to be fresh for the next morning”. He added with smile on his face that he would like to watch a movie in a theatre on Sundays.

I reflected long on his simple description of what we would refer to as the everyday life of an ordinary person.

And then, I understood that  what he really wanted was to be included – with Just an Ordinary Life – nothing special – just ordinary, like everybody else!

In his quiet statement I began to see the path we would henceforth take with the adults training with us. A path that would give them a beginning of “ ordinariness with an ordinary place in adult life”.

And from then till now, this is what we have been striving to do – designing strategies and products that are inclusive, to ensure that the people we work with can embark on and sustain their meaningful contributions and earn a place in everyday life – financially and socially!

To achieve this, we start by educating young children in Prabhat, Society for Child Development in a rigorous program of academics, social skills and habits. When 18, students are transferred to the Skill building and Income generation program, where they apprentice with other skilled workers with disability to learn on–the–job.

The collections presented here is a glimpse of this journey …..

~ Dr. Madhumita Puri