ONE
BIG
FAMILY
The Confederation of Association for Persons with Mental Disabilities’ is a united forum of all persons with mental disabilities, their parents/ caregivers, the NGOs who cater to the varied needs of special persons and the special education professionals rendering yeoman service. Known briefly as ‘Confederation’ this union of all stake holders has over the last fifteen years made governments sit up and recognize a disability hitherto marginalized and uncared for; forced the state of Tamilnadu through persuasion and intense lobbying, to accord monthly financial assistance directly to thousands of beneficiaries and has been striving hard to usher in a bonding between NGOs, parents and special education professionals including teachers, the many therapists and the inevitable ayahs.
how we
started
The Confederation has fortified the NGOs, most of whom, survive and function purely on private philanthropy. Indeed, the presence of the State, in this crucial area calling for humanitarian intervention, had been negligible. Now, the State of Tamilnadu, supports about 250 NGO’s spread over the whole of Tamilnadu, from the Northern most port town of Ennore to the southern tip of the country - Kanyakumari, by providing them with Annual Salary Grant for three special education professional, given through some NGO’s who run homes, feeding allowance and to a few others building grants or rental assistance.
The Confederation has made possible all these which were unthinkable fifteen years ago.
The Confederation is a gross root organization and is built from the district level.
A lot more needs to be done in terms of advocacy, support, assertion of rights impacting social acceptance, educational and training opportunities and health insurance for all persons with special needs.
It can be safely asserted, that the credit goes to the Confederation for having transformed the State of Tamilnadu into a pioneering state in terms of support given to the special children / adults and the NGO’s training them.