Hearing Impairment – Support Groups
1) VConnect Foundation is a support group for parents who have children with a hearing impairment. It was started by Fatema Jagmag & myslef, who are both pfofessionals in the field of hearing impairment and parents of children who have a hearing impairment. Our website is http://www.vconnectfoundation.org/ all our activities are listed on the website. If you need any further details we would be more than willing to help.
Thank you.
Vahishtai Daboo <vahishtai@vsnl.net>
2)Sense International (India) has organised three networks– Supports groups based on the felt needs of the people. All the three networks are national and registered organizations.
1.Prayaas- (National Network of Families of persons with Deafblindness/Multi Sensory Impairment)
The registered office of the society will be, E-2, Tarun Nagar-II,
Opp. Arihant Nagar, Subhash Chowk, Gurukul Road, Memnagar, Ahmedabad- 380 052, Gujarat, India.
For most of us, the family is the constant thread in our lives. Our abilities as adults to be trusting and confident are greatly rooted in our relationships good or bad – with our family. And this is true for all children, including the deafblind children. Parents and family members play a central role in the lives of all children – especially those who are deafblind. They have their own concerns, worries strengths and priorities.
On the same philosophy the family network was formed which comprises primarily parents and siblings of deafblind people in India. At present we have 530 members all over India.
The Family Network will have with the following specific objectives:
To share own struggles and achievements in coping with a deafblind member within the family.
To help other family members in adjusting and accommodating to the needs of a deafblind member within the family.
To share information on places and practices that has worked for them in helping to provide support to the deafblind member.
To identify means for lobbying and more services for deafblind people.
2.Abhi-Prerna- (National Network of Teachers of persons with Deafblindness/Multi Sensory Impairment)
The registered office of the society will be, E-2, Tarun Nagar-II,
Opp. Arihant Nagar, Subhash Chowk, Gurukul Road, Memnagar, Ahmedabad- 380 052, Gujarat, India
The ultimate goal of this network is to get together and form a network to share experiences. It enables teachers to gain newer skills and plan a better future for deafblind people. The network is a source of peer support, encouragement, motivation and professional recognition.
The Teachers Network for the teachers of deafblind children in India is formed with the following objectives:
To share experiences, concerns and good practice skills with the group.
To share own expertise and skills in working with the deafblind children with other members of the group.
To develop own skills for working with deafblind children from the group members and other invited professionals.
The Teachers Network comprises of people who provide education and training to children with deafblindness such as- Educators, CBR Workers, Mobility Instructors, Instructors, Developmental therapists, Speech and Vision therapists and so on. It is important to remember that the members have experience of working with deafblind children and are associated in the field of deafblindness in more than one ways. At present we have 250 members in this group.
3.UDAAN (National Network of Persons with Deafblindness/Multi Sensory Impairment)
The registered office of the society will be, E-2, Tarun Nagar-II,
Opp. Arihant Nagar, Subhash Chowk, Gurukul Road, Memnagar, Ahmedabad- 380 052, Gujarat, India.
We have 75 members in Udaan network. Udaan works for empowering deafblind and multi sensory impairment persons all over the country and aims at identifying more and more deafblind to include them in this network and bring forward a common voice of this group and to create a common bond of understanding and action among deafblind people throughout the country.
The ultimate goal is to establish a strong and supportive deafblind peoples national network that will enable people with acquired deafblindness to gain more control over their lives and to participate in their communities.
Source: Karmayog Yahoo Group