1959 The Acorn Takes Root
May 14th 1959. 24 members adopted the name of ‘Association of the Physically Handicapped (APH) and elect 10 committee members and office bearers with I.L. Thomas as President , N.S. Ayyangar as Vice President, Lakshmi Menon as Secretary and N.D. Diwan as Treasurer.
Sept 14th 1959
The first temple of learning opens its door to the worshippers of knowledge. Inauguration of the training centre was done at Sir Puttanchetty Town Hall by Sri Rachiah state Minister for Social Welfare.
A small place was taken on rent at Cambridge Road for Rs. 75/- per month, where training in tailoring was started. After a few months it was shifted to a house taken on rent (Rs. 40/- per month) at Malleswaram.
1960 The activity at Malleswaram shifts to Hema’s garage where four youths started training in tailoring and embroidery. All these places, the Programme did not take off as expected as there was not much to motivate the trainees, who found begging more lucrative.
Hema came up with the idea of doing subcontract work for big industries. Hema’s uncle, who was the M.D of Mysore Electrical Industries, was approached and small assembly works was started in the garage and subsequently became a busy operation.
On Nov 10th V.T. Padmanabhan, an industrialist gifts 2 acres of land at Lingarajpuram to the Association. Meanwhile the work in the garage was in full swing.
1961 On 20th March the foundation stone for the workshop was laid by Maharajah Shri. Jayachamarajendra Wodiyer, Governor of Mysore.
OXFAM, UK donated for the borewell, building etc an amount of Rs.2, 47,500/- and the State Government gave a grant of Rs. 34,000/-. Construction started.
1965 On Feb 27th the ‘Grihapravesam’ of the new building took place, informally. Hema lit the lamp. Whoever imagined at that time when the lamp was lit by Hema, that it would give light to the lives of many tens of thousands of disabled in the years to come. Perhaps, Hema’s determination, perseverance and dedication to the cause blessed by Divine Grace brought APH through thick and thin in the years to come by.
The operation was shifted from the garage to the new building. Indian Telephone Industries started giving work.
1969 No. of trainees increased to 125, other firms like BEL, ITC also started giving work. There were many wait listed, to join.
HEKS and OXFAM gave Rs.2,78,000/- for the machine shop. A new building of 5700 Sqft was taken up for construction.
1970 HEKS and BREAD FOR THE WORLD OF GERMANY donates Rs. 30 lakhs, a big gesture appreciating the progress and the conviction of the Organisation.
1972 On the 25th June the new building was declared open by Shri.V.V.Giri, President of India.
1973 APD starts an Integrated School in the name of Shradhanjali Integrated School.
1974 With regret the training centre had to be closed down, APH did soul searching and realized that no forethought was given in implementing prudently.
1975 Management decides to split the training activities into two: One formal Industrial Training Course based on NCVT syllabus (NTC) and bound by the duration of the trade selected, and the other an Advanced Training Course (ATC) where trainees would be given on the job Training in various machine operations. This is to be for a period of two years only.
1981 Initial work on Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) started by conducting a survey in Kolar Gold Fields area during International Year of Disability.
1983 Orthotic Appliances and Training Centre was started to manufacture mobility aids to every disabled person within reach. The children of the school benefited a lot. Also involved was training in orthotic appliances for trainees both from India and abroad.
1987 Horticulture Training Centre started in Jeevan Bhimanagar land of nearly one acre given by BDA on lease.
1998 The CBR which started earlier and preliminary work undertaken was expanded this year with aim of organizing and empowering communities by developing skills in community members, so as to sustain ongoing development on health, education, prevention and livelihood.
About one area of land was given as gift at Chintamani, by Santu Ramaswamy Swamiji,“Ananda Ashram” as the place was called with basic infrastructure became the hub of CBR activity, in rural area particularly in Kolar Dist.
Urban Slum Outreach Programme (USOP) the effort taken by Hema in slums of Neelasandra and other nine slums years back, is the biggest and must ambitious programme undertaken by APH employing over one third of the staff and catering to about 1000 People with Disability. Started about 18years ago, with a small beginning became a huge project funded by ACTION AID and SCIAF.
1994 More importance was given to CBR through networking and education ZFS plays an important role as a Capacity builder by developing the first strategic plan. The mission statement adopted was “To meet individual needs, to create awareness; to promote acceptance and integration; to instill self confidence, and to encourage self reliance, for the benefit of People with Disability”
1997 Management decided to remove the “handicapped” from its name and decides to rename APH as ‘Association of People with Disability’ (APD)
2001 5 acre land at Kyalasanahalli, Hennur Road was given on lease by Government for starting Horticulture Training Programme for the people with disability of various categories, on the line of the one at Jeevan Bhimanagar, which was running successfully.
2002 Release of ‘Challenging Disability” a book on journey of APD written by Ms. Jean Satterthwaite and ‘Urban Slums reach out” compiled by Ms. Shebha Raja. Launched Programme to support persons with Spinal cord injury (SCI)
2003 APD launches its website. www.apd-india.org.
A committee was formed to prepare a strategic plan for the future. The committee’s recommendation of “3 year Vision of APD” was accepted by the managing committee on the 4th of Dec, and decided to implement the same from 2004. In these three years it was planned to teach out to about 10,000 disabled persons, by various programmes suggested.
2004 It was a major step in reorganization of APD with a view to expand its reach and enlarge its scope. As a result APD expands its Programmes to other Districts of Karnataka.
Laying of foundation for construction of Horticultural Training Centre at Kyalasanahalli.
Collaborated with BASICNEEDS-India to expand support to persons with mentally ill.
2005 APD partnered with IDCS- India to expand its reach and quality of services for Deaf persons in both Rural and Urban areas.
APD partnered with Motivation -UK to launch quality wheelchair services provision for both urban and rural areas. First World Made Wheelchair fabricated in APD.
