Block printing, jewellery-making skills for those with special needs

A girl with special needs dabbed colour on a block and used it to print on a piece of silk. She did it meticulously, with assistance. The dupatta she was painting would be sold at a shop not for charity but for what it is worth.

A centre for individuals with special needs has started a separate vocational unit and is training individuals so they can aspire to lead independent lives. The students are being taught block printing on textiles, making jewellery with beads, printing sheets of paper, cutting and lamination, photocopying and cooking, among other things.

“Whatever skills we are teaching is to train the students for an independent living,” said Namita Somani, managing trustee of Amrit Somani Memorial Centre. The vocational unit is a new separate wing. The vocational unit caters to individuals with autism, down syndrome and intellectual disability and is open to those with physical challenges, too.

The idea is not just to teach them how to print or laminate but to cut, choose, assemble and arrange their resources or raw materials so they are able to complete a task, said Somani. There are students who initially need various levels of assistance. “For some, it is verbal or gestural or even physical assistance at times. But gradually they are trained and the support is taken off in due course, depending on the ability of the student,” said Somani.

For example, while beading a neck-piece, a young trainee needs help with the hook. “The designing is being done by us and we are gradually teaching them how to put the hook,” said a teacher. Another student, for example, is learning to laminate flash cards being used in the centre. The student is doing the typing, printing and learning to cut before putting it for lamination.

“It could have been easy for a teacher to cut but we don’t want to do it,” said a teacher. For cooking, the trainees should know where and how to get the raw materials if they run out of stock. For students to go out and procure items there has to be more acceptability of them in society, the teacher said. “That is what integration is. Our students do not need a separate space but more sensitivity,” she said.

The vocational unit has come up with a shop, where the jewellery, table napkins, dupattas, envelopes and cards with quilling that they make are being sold. The sale proceeds go to the individuals who make them. “We used to do exhibitions but now we have a store,” said Somani. It is called The Shop and is on Sarat Bose Road.