Hearing impairment is the most frequent disorder in new born. Even partial hearing loss can result in an impaired ability to speak and acquire language. Children with hearing loss cannot speak and this leads to isolation and poor self-esteem. This effects their education. Parents struggle to find the challenging medical, therapeutic and educational pathway for their children. Imagine what would be the situation of low-income parents who don’t have any kind of awareness about it and how to deal with this disability in their child.

Abhaya Pradha, a not for profit NGO, was founded in February 2012 by Ms. Dhanalakshmi Sattu. The school provide free speech therapy and hearing aids to the underprivileged children. Their relentless efforts have benefited a good number of children by mainstreaming them into regular schools over the years, and their hard work continues to be of great relief to parents of such children, who have very low income and do not have the ability to fund even basic schooling.

Ms. Dhanalakshmi Sattu has been working relentlessly for a decade in this field, and is the driving force behind the school. She worked as a special educator as part of the government-led Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Programme before Abhaya Pradha was started. she was saddened by the sight of many differently abled children in slums, sitting idle at home. They faced many issues- speech difficulties, behavioral issues, slow learning. Another major issue is dealing with parents who weren’t keen to send them to normal school and are also concerned about what opportunities they could possibly have once they are done with the education.

The school started with six children and now the number has increased to 50. There are four teachers and children between age group 3-8 are given speech training, written skills development and methods to improve their social behavioral capabilities. Most of the parents are illiterate and low-income background. The parents are also educated on how to groom their children at home. One teacher for every five children is mandatory but monetary issues are preventing from keeping this ratio. At present the school is self-funded with help of family and friends. Including rent and salaries for the teachers, Dhanalakshmi spend around 50,000 to 60,000 per month. In spite of numerous challenges, she struggles to keep the NGO running.

People like Ms. Dhanalakshmi are real super heroes or super women to these kids. We all are busy with our own responsibilities in our life. We may not be super like them but all we can do is to support them in whatever little way we can. A little empathy and contribution towards her noble cause will enable her to continue her selfless and amazing service to these little children.

The donations will be used in  

1.      Leasing a bigger space for Abhaya Pradha. There are 50 children now, but Dhanalakshmi is being constantly approached by more
parents for support to their special children. She will be able to help more kids in a bigger space.

2.       Paying the School rents and teachers. Also employing more speech therapists so that the student to teacher ratio is reduced further and the therapy is even more fruitful.

3.       Buying special toys and books required for the children