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The Association
of People with
Disability
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p
olio-
affected person, e Association of People
with Disability (APD) looks at disability
through a different lens. It works to nurture an
inclusive ecosystem and empower
PWDs by facilitating access to good
rehabilitation services, their rights and
entitlements, equal opportunities and dignity.
APD’s lifecycle approach goes all the
way from early intervention, inclusive
education, livelihood opportunities, spinal
cord injury rehabilitation, research, training,
developing assistive and adaptive technology,
policy and advocacy and symbiotic
partnerships to scale up its interventions in
the best possible manner.
rom community-based rehabilitation
and local networking and supporting the
creation of federations and other community-
based organizations, to corporate engagement
for building awareness and accessing
innovations and research, APD has numerous
collaborations in place. It works with the
government in a technical and advisory
capacity, as well as programmes like
empowering PHCs to become models for basic
management interventions related to PWDs.
H
and rehabilitation in progress
ollowing pages (126–127):
Mother as therapist during
self-management training
F
ounded by (Late) N.S. Hema in 1959
With integrity, empathy, accountability,
collaboration, excellence and diversity
as its core values, The Association
of People with Disability (APD)
strives to create a world where equity,
dignity and justice are assured for
persons with disability (PWDs). It
runs extensive programmes in rural
and urban Karnataka to enable, equip
and empower children and adults
with a range of disabilities including
locomotor, spinal cord injury, speech
and hearing, cerebral palsy and
mental issues. It has impacted over
5,00,000 PWDs from underprivileged
communities. APD has received the
NCPEDP-Mindtree Helen Keller Award
in 2019, the Award for contribution to
Mental Health from NIMHANS and
the E-Innovation Award from MUGU
International Foundation in 2018.