Program Objective

To rebuild the lives of people with disabilities and help them and their families survive and overcome the impact of Covid-19.

APD’s Approach

The pandemic caused by Covid-19 The severity of impact of COVID-19 is most intense among the people who are the marginalised and vulnerable. People with Disabilities (PwDs) and elderly poor are among the hardest hit. Most often they get left out from the mass welfare measures of government agencies or during distribution of life saving provisions done from a central point in their locality. They are also most likely to fall into further poverty and ill health, especially PwDs and elderly if they are not able to access the provisions required for survival at the right time.

APD started with spreading awareness about Covid-19 through virtual means in mid–March. We designed posters in Kannada about Covid-19 and its preventions and circulated to our target audience through phones. We also made a sign language video explaining the same and sent to the speech and hearing impaired service recipients. After the lockdown, with the support of other agencies, we started distributing provisions to families of PwDs and other vulnerable families in some slums in Bangalore on a small scale. During this time, we collected information about the situation of PwDs in our work areas and understood that there is an urgent need for such provisions to many more families across Karnataka. As a result, we appealed to dour donors for help and our Survival Kit distribution became a full-fledged programme.

Till now, APD has reached almost 5000 families of People with Disabilities covering 20,000 individuals. Though the lockdown is lifted now and many of us will go back to work, People with Disabilities and Children with Special Needs are not that fortunate. They need a lot of support to get back their livelihood, education and health.