Dear Donor

The management of APD met on Tuesday, March 17, to assess the impact of the ongoing COVID -19 situation on our operations, beneficiaries and staff. After due consideration of the many factors and the advisories from the GoI, WHO, etc., the following decisions were made to ensure the health, safety and security of our staff, many of whom travel by public transport and work outside the office.

All APD HQ staff will begin to work from home, though the offices will remain open with skeletal staff. This includes our Fundraising and Finance teams who will be available to you over phone/email.

All APD staff involved in field operations will suspend their work for the next ten days, after advising their beneficiaries of a suitable course of action. They will be available to them via phone for any advice or consultation. This will affect all of our field programs in early intervention, inclusive education, rural livelihoods, metal health and spinal cord rehab.

The SIS school and other Model schools under the Inclusive Education program are closed due to government directives and summer vacations.

The Livelihood ELT programs have been short closed by a few days and the 137 students living in various hostels are being assisted in returning home. Our staff are coordinating travel arrangements and ensuring that each student is tracked until he gets home.

The 50 persons with spinal cord injury and their caregivers at our Spinal Cord Injury rehab centre are also being sent home to avoid any risk of contagion.  

The IDRR Healthcare professionals course is on an exam study break. We will await suitable advice from the RCI about next steps.

While we will endeavour to minimise disruptions in our response times and reporting schedules, this is an unprecedented situation and one must expect that there may be some disruption in our normal operations. Many of you have extended your support to us, unsolicited, which is deeply appreciated.

We plan to reassess the situation, every ten days and will keep you posted. Do not hesitate to contact us via the normal communication channels if you should need anything from us.

Stay safe in these extraordinary times.

Sincerely,

Jacob Kurian

Honorary Secretary

The Association of People with Disability (APD)