The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Power of mind transcending disability

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Sunday, May 11, 2008
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Power of mind transcending disability

Priscilla Jebaraj

Four differently abled children prove that they are second to none when it comes to brain power

— Photos: K.V. Srinivasan

pure ability: (From left) C. Santhanakumar, B. Bhavna, C. Gnana Prasanna and P. Hari Shangar.

CHENNAI: They may not have the power to talk, hear, read or write very well, but differently abled children across the city have proved that they are second to none when it comes to brain power.

At the fishing hamlet of Nochikuppam, C. Santhanakumar and C. Devaki are celebrating their higher secondary results together — in sign language.

Santhanakumar is hearing impaired, and was the only successful candidate from the CSI School for the Deaf this year. Devaki, who goes to a regular school, proudly credits part of her own success to her older brother. “Annan was actually the one who taught me maths, since he is strong in that subject,” she says. Both scored 70 per cent.

Santhanakumar, who also underwent two cataract operations over the last month, received no special treatment during the examination — no extra time, or sign language assistant.

In another part of the city, B. Bhavna, a commerce student who has cerebral palsy, wrote her higher secondary examination just by looking. Jubilant about her 86 per cent score, her eyes dart across the home-made chart of letters and numbers propped in front of her wheelchair as she spells out her hopes for the future: “I want to do the IIT humanities course.”

Bhavna and her classmates P. Hari Shangar and C. Gnana Prasanna, who also have cerebral palsy, spent their early years at the special school in Vidya Sagar, but transferred to the mainstream to complete their Class 11 and 12 at Lady Andal Higher Secondary School.

Using scribes who deciphered their distorted speech and Bhavna’s moving-eye communication, these talented students took just one hour more than the norm to complete their examinations.

Hari, who scored 89.5 per cent, wants to do B.Com at Loyola College before going on for an MBA degree. Since he has poor vision, he is a non-reader and must absorb knowledge as it is read to him.

Gnana Prasanna, who chose the science stream against all family and school advice, scored a creditable 55 per cent.

“I myself did not know it was so tough, but I’m extremely happy because I really liked the subject …The practicals were difficult,” she says. Despite all this, she intends to apply for a bachelors degree in Food Nutrition and Dietetics.

Bhavna is applying for a course in commerce or travel and tourism while she waits for a Stephen Hawking-style computer with eye gaze technology to replace her hand-written chart. Next year, she will apply to IIT.

Santhanakumar’s choices are more limited than the Vidya Sagar trio — both for financial and academic reasons. Never having studied in a mainstream school, he has only two options in the city, the St. Louis Institute for the Deaf and Blind or the Presidency College, which will admit hearing-impaired students for the first time this year.

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