By Hamid Khan Wazir
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Person with Disabilities (PWDs) are one of the most neglected segments of our society; hence the Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) took up the gauntlet to make them independent, self-reliant, dignified and contributing members of the society.
They often faced negative attitudes and rejection even from their families as well due to which HHRD decided to assist these persons within their territory through Community-based Inclusive Development in 2013.
The concept behind this program is ‘ability not disability’.
In this regard, the HHRD jointly organized various programs in the year 2017, 2018, and 2019 with the district government and other local and international stakeholders to help Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The program in the year 2017 was jointly organized in Government College of Commerce Timergara District Dir lower on December 3, 2017, in partnership with the HHRD, Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and other organizations by strictly following the SoPs issued by the provincial government.
The program was totally joint efforts and list of participants and speakers was approved by the district administration and this practice continued in the next two years too.
Keeping the tradition alive, the HHRD will also jointly organize such a program with other local and international stakeholders in the first week of December in 2020 with strict observance of SoPs.
As per the detail, the HHRD provided Health and Rehabilitation regular services to 400 the PWDs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) to help them to get improve their abilities back and regain independence.
Moreover, almost 12 disability wise awareness sessions were conducted in every year with the collaboration of social welfare and other line departments in the area to educate parents and key stakeholders about disability issues and how to treat persons and their better care at home/family gatherings/public places, etc.
Besides, these persons are being provided financial support, psychosocial support, assessment, rehabilitation along with custom made assistive devices and education, so they can reach their full potential.
The organization provided all these services under one roof by establishing comprehensive Physical Rehabilitation Centers at each district.
Various compensatory techniques are provided and taught to promote recovery and help with the tasks of daily living.
The therapist used an interdisciplinary approach that included medical stabilization, physical rehabilitation, speech therapy, and cognitive/behavioral rehabilitation. The parents counseling is also done regarding the child’s issues and services.
An important component of a community-based rehabilitation program is to assist these persons to remain in school or assist them to go back to school.
A majority number of our sponsored persons are enrolled in an inclusive education school system and each year at least 10 PWDs were also received vocational training and tool kits on successful completion of training.
