Asha Foundation: Hope comes alive for the differently-abled

By Priyanka Ohri

There are so many cases in our society where people cannot do anything about their illnesses. There are times children with autism are taken for as lazy or disinterested. There are times when illnesses and physical injuries turn the world of people upside down. And, then there are times when organizations like Asha Foundation come forward and give hope to these differently-abled people.

Asha Foundation was set up in 2001 by Katharin Zimpel and Ramesh Vangal as a non-profit organization,
which comprises of a rehab centre, which specializes in the physical rehabilitation of people with
a disabling physical illness or injury, Asha school for Autism and Nine Months Miracle, a pregnancy
programme. Taking in consideration the activities and the work done by the organization, it becomes
Youthleader’s prerogative to bring to light and spread the word about the organization, so that more
and more people can make use of the services.

So how did this idea germinate? “It was an inspiration which came to Ramesh and I as we were on our way back from Dharamshala , India in March 2001 . We had been fortunate to have a private audience with the Dalai Lama after which we visited a Tibetan Orphanage which had a few children who had cerebral palsy. On the long drive back we decided to start the Asha Foundation! The Foundation has been our inspiration ever since,” said Katharin Zimpel.

Purpose

*To provide quality intervention for individuals with neurological challenges (Autism, Cerebral Palsy and others)

*To help these children reach their potential

*To provide a holistic approach

*To provide counseling for the parents of children with special needs.

*To spread awareness about neurological challenges (in children) at every level of society.

*To reach out to differently-abled children in society and orient them towards a more fulfilling life.

Asha Foundations’ primary approach is to spread awareness and to encourage early diagnosis and intervention for differently-abled children. For NMM, their primary approach is to help more women have normal deliveries and healthy babies.

The basic team consists of Physiotherapists (5), Occupational Therapists (2), Speech Therapists (2), and Special Educators (7), Assistant Educators (4). The team consists of qualified and dedicated professionals who work in co-ordination with the parents.

Currently, the foundation is based in Bangalore and operate from here. We also do outreach programs in Bangalore.

Ways to Reach Out: School, Rehab and Nine Months Miracle

Specifically the initiative comprises of:

Ur Initiative SPECIFIC – www.ashafoundation.org

Asha Rehab (physio, occupational and speech therapy)

Asha School for Autism (Special Education and therapy)

Nine Months Miracle – NMM (pregnancy program)

The school primarily focuses on providing appropriate interventions for children with Autism. We follow methods that have been extensively researched and universally accepted, such as – Structured teaching methodology, (ABA) Applied Behavior Analysis, (VBA) Verbal Behavior Analysis. We also offer alternative programs like Music therapy, Horticulture therapy, Drama as therapy, Art etc

In the Rehab centre, holistic rehabilitation with physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, special education, on a one to one basis for every child is provided. The foundation also provides rehabilitation with EMG Biofeedback for selected children and adults with neurological challenges that are non-degenerative and non progressive in nature.

Electromyography Biofeedback – is based on the theory of plasticity of the brain, which suggests that learning in the brain is an active and continuous process and does not depend on age. It is used to establish learning control of specific physiological responses – EMG responses. This technique involves recruiting active and intact neurons in lieu of the damaged ones by forming new motor neuron connections with the help of audio- visual inputs to the brain.

Nine Months Miracle has pre-natal and post-natal pregnancy classes along with Lamaze breathing techniques for parents-to-be. NMM‘S 5 week program consists of 3 weeks of sessions before delivery, and one or two more weeks after delivery.

“For Asha, we have realized the increasing need for these programs for differently-abled children in society. NMM has received a good response and it is popular because of nuclear families, where couples need help to have a healthy pregnancy and delivery,” said Usha, the foundations, spokesperson. They have already reached out to more than 1000 children since its inception in 2001 and for NMM, since 2006, about 500 couples have benefited from our program.

Challenges

Awareness and acceptance from parents and society has been one of the biggest challenges faced so far. For Autism, parents expect their children to attend mainstream schools and be integrated quickly. In India, academic pressure is very high and parents do not easily accept their child’s different ability to perform.

Getting parents to be consistent in bringing the children for sustained therapy, which takes several years for some cases, is another major challenge for them.

Katharin add, “From the beginning the Foundation has been funded internally. Initially Ramesh and I put up the corpus to start the process of collaborating with Dr Brucker of the University of Jackson, Miami, US. As things progressed our company Katra Group has funded Asha for the last decade now. Other than a couple of individual donors Asha is funded by Katra Group almost entirely. Funding was a major challenge during the last 3 years when our group faced liquidity challenges due to the Global recession.
Despite this our commitment to the cause is total! We have kept our Asha Foundation as our primary mission. We will keep the cause alive. We also co-sponsored a global ‘Communication Shutdown’ program which was run in Nov 2010 aimed at increasing awareness of Autism.”

I stated that I come from part of the country where people find it very hard to accept that their child is autistic or they need rehab. Do you find the same problem in your part of the country as well? The answer was a ‘Yes’.

Recently Asha led an international initiative in India – Communication Shutdown (www.communicationshutdown.org) to spread awareness and they also counsel parents regularly, to help them accept their child’s difference in ability and be actively involved in their interventions.

Potential Targets

The team visits schools to identify children with special needs and follow standardized assessment tools like Childhood Autism Rating Scale (C.A.R.S) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM IV) and they create tailor-made programs to suit each child’s requirements. At Rehab, they also connect regularly with doctors and other special institutions to identify children with special needs.

So, do they need to convince people that they or their loved ones need help? Since awareness about Autism, Cerebral Palsy (and such conditions) is low, quite frequently, they do have to convince people about the importance of early diagnosis and intervention.

For NMM, the foundation has a counseling session first, where they explain why they need the program and how it will benefit them.

Motivation to Inspire Others

The team has members who are sensitized to special needs, either because of personal experiences and/or the motivation to have a meaningful, service oriented, and satisfying career. The improvement that they witness in the children over a period of time is also an important factor that keeps them motivated.

They are planning to include vocational training for older children in future.

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VOICES

“This is to share the positive transition Aakash has had in the last two months, after he joined Asha School, and I also seek your support. To our awe and surprise, Aakash has had tremendous improvement in logical thinking, the way he manages himself and communicates. He is able to infer mechanical logic like opening and closing the door, inserting the laptop plugin wire by feeling for the groove, finding his way to a place by different doors within the house, playing hide and seek. Earlier he had trouble walking back home from school, now he enjoys his walks. His communication has improved, he is now trying to verbalise all his requests (earlier he would shout meaninglessly).There are occasional tantrums but they are almost like a normal kid getting frustrated. I think he enjoys schooling with Asha,the warm welcome the staff gives says it all. Thanks for your ongoing support.” – Premkumar T

“Karthikeyan, my five year old son, was reluctant to cooperate for any therapy. EMG Biofeedback helped speed up his functional activities. He is now able to walk a few steps without support. Asha therapists were so patient! Asha also provided financial support.” – Hemavathy P

“Prior to taking the prenatal classes with Asha Foundation as most soon-to-be moms are, I was quite nervous about my upcoming labour and delivery. However, through participating in these classes, I was able to learn a lot about what to expect as well as how I personally could positively deal with the labour and delivery. Consequently, I gained a sense of empowerment about giving birth and I felt calmer about what was to come.” — Ms Aparna Srinath

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About the author

Priyanka Ohri is a writer and believes that her knowledge, qualifications and skills can contribute substantially to make an aware and a better world. She loves traveling and her dream is to travel the world ‘alone’, see every corner. Most, importantly, she believes that all that matters in this world is a good heart set on good things, if so one can change the destiny not only of oneself, but also of the entire world, all you have to do is believe in your heart.