Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Persons with disability to be trained in marketing

— PHOTO: R. SHIVAJI RAO.

Persons with disability showcase their products at an exhibition organised by Vidya Sagar recently.

CHENNAI: Vidya Sagar, an organisation working with children with cerebral palsy and other neurological disabilities, has proposed to train persons with disability to sell their products in the mainstream market.

This is an effort to provide adults with disability an opportunity to eke out a living without looking for charity, according to Rajul Padmanabhan, Director. “We are not focusing on our alumni alone. We would like to be a catalyst for all persons with disability,” she said recently.

At present, the students and alumni receive training in making products of their choice. Some make cloth files, paper cups, and pickleshome-ground spice powders, party ware and paintings. Most of them are sold through in-house exhibitions.

“Next year, we are moving from sheltered workshop and are planning to market the products to everyone. We are going to have designers to upgrade and give another dimension to product design,” Ms. Rajul says.

Currently the organisation's Economic Education Centre trains the students to develop products. The products they make are sold through exhibitions organised by Vidya Sagar.

With the aim of making them independent, the organisation will offer short-term courses on creating products. There will be a product designer, who will give inputs and suggestions and also help them develop a marketing strategy. This would help the young adults to seek out unusual employment opportunities, says Vidya Sagar chairperson Usha Ramakrishnan. Vidya Sagar is also launching leisure activities for its alumni and students, says Sudha Ramamurthy, Deputy Director.

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