Case study 1

Penelope D’Souza

“Penny is in demand in APD!”

This is how her students describe Penelope D’Souza or Penny, as she is fondly called in APD. Penny works in the Human Resources Department of a leading corporate and volunteers with APD’s Industrial Training Centre. Those around her feel drawn to her friendly nature and simplicity.

Penny teaches soft skills and spoken English during her weekly association of three hours with APD. She brings the value of her expertise to APD. This is visible in the carefully designed modules of the courses keeping in mind the level of understanding of people with disability. The modules enthuse students and staff of ITC to be interactive during trainings, making them confident and improving their writing skills. Today, many of them write their own letters and reports and interact with prospective employers.

Case Study 2

Premila Prabhu

In many ways, one can call her the post office of APD except that she is all in one – the sender, receiver and the sorter of letters!

Though her association began in 2004, as a student in the adjacent St Charles, Premila Raju would to observe the students and youth with disabilities walking towards the large double gates of APD. She aspired to be associated with APD from those days. Ms. Hema, the founding trustee was her inspiration.

She began volunteering with APD on a part-time basis since August 2004 in the Department of Communications and Fund Raising. Premila managed extensive correspondence logistics requiring a high caliber of multi-tasking and punctuality. She contacts prospective donors and sponsors with appeals for funds, while the existing ones are habituated to find the letter reminding them of their due date for donating funds placed on their place.

Even as they are updated on the impact of their funds, be it sponsorship of a mid-day meal or the fees of a student, the note of thanks and receipts never fails to reach them. Premila also serves as the diary of sorts for APD as she marks off events and sponsorship on its calendar. She works independently as well with others, imparting her skills of writing and proficiency in correspondence.

“I have assisted at Shradhanjali Integrated School and now am at Communication and Fund Raising Department.  God willing, I would like to continue serving APD in any manner that the organization desires”.

Case Study 3

Vinod Khandpur

The infectious enthusiasm and energy of Vinod Khandpur has built many a bridge between APD and supportive individuals and organizations. His versatile skills are an asset to each and every department of APD, be it report making to counseling to photography.

“I found most people want to help if they can trust. If you give money for a cause, they want you to ask them how it was spent and suggest ways to do better.  If you sponsor a midday meal for children of Shradhanjali Integrated School, they request you to join them, eat with them and tell them what you think of the food. 
If you give a donation for a program which gets cancelled, they return your money. They consider every paisa a precious gift that needs to spent with great care,” he says.

Vinod has brought several well to do friends with disabilities as well. They cherish the undivided attention from the therapists at the Physiotherapy department. It amazes them to get treatment and consultancy at a fraction of the charges of other institutions. This experience is important as word of mouth not helps to attract more people to APD but reinforces the integrity of the institution.

Case Study 4

Andrew Millner

Andrew Millner came on a Zurich Financial Services and spent four memorable weeks of his life, devising ways to strengthen and develop existing avenues of charities, marketing, fundraising and advertising capabilities.

His relevant recomendations to the Board of Directors were channeled towards institution building through holistic capacity building of departmental staff. This included training APD's horticulture staff on customer service skills. The memories of his association spurred him to create awareness about APD after his return to UK, evoking a positive response.

A self-confessed fan of 'on the job' training, Andrew shares that he learnt more from his field experience than class-room based learning. “My four weeks in India was an amazing opportunity to put my ideas and marketing training to good use and learn from it”, he says.