Occupational therapist and Tamahar founder ‘s journey to help children with intellectual disability began more than 25 years ago. “In Bengaluru, where I started my career, I worked in the rehabilitation industry. “It has been a long and eventful journey since that beginning as an associate for the Spastic Society of India,” Vaishali stated. “From that beginning, it has been formed Tamahar, a full-fledged center for children with special needs and their families.” Vaishali stated, “through the medium of holistic developmental intervention (combination of occupational therapy, speech therapy, physiotherapy, Music Therapy, and yoga therapy), arts, dance, sports, and basic education, Tamahar works with children suffering from developmental delays due to brain damage, up to the age of 21.” She reminisced, “In these two and a half decades, I have had amazing, good, bad, and downright ugly experiences.” when recalling her journey. I have witnessed harassed fathers leaving meetings to arrive on time for doctor’s appointments, only to be informed that the doctor will not be there that day, and single mothers struggling to carry heavy babies in crowded public transportation. While enduring exhausting therapies, I have witnessed children howling and staring helplessly at siblings who were playing on their own. I have witnessed exhausted family members attempting to soothe a screaming infant or a child who is throwing a tantrum.

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I’ve seen frantic doctors who treat 40 patients a day, trying to figure out why this child is having such terrible seizures and can’t sit still for more than 30 seconds. As for societal stigmas Vaishali said, “I know of many parents who shy away from taking this help only because it is so difficult to trust someone else with your precious baby. From the other perspective, society frequently experiences feelings of helplessness and helplessness. What to do to make it easy for such parents?” “What if the neighbours/relatives find out, what if they know that my child is incapable of following my dreams, why should my child not go to a regular school like other children?” appears to be another significant issue that she has observed over the course of her career. “We at Tamahar believe that parents are primary therapists, they continue with the therapy programme at home, ensuring a 24-hour intervention. This is possible if therapy techniques and teaching techniques are shared with the family and they are encouraged to continue working with the child at home. She stated, “It is mandatory for our parents to participate in the program, where they receive ongoing training in both theory and practice.” Vaishali’s team consists of 25 teachers and interventionists, but they maintain the ratio of one child to one teacher. However, raising funds is not a simple process. “In the past, it was through connections and friends contributing funds. But now that we’re getting help from CSRs, the real problem is that their goals have to match ours, so it’s not easy,” she said.