A residential facility for children and individuals with autism completed a year this January and has started the construction of a new building to cater to the demand for more space.
Ananda Ashrama, about 160km from Kolkata at Jamdoba village in West Burdwan district, is a residential facility that prepares individuals with autism for independent living and trains them in vocational skills.
Parents of children with special needs are often troubled by the fear of what will happen to their children after them. It was this worry that drove a Kolkata couple to conceptualise the facility and joined by other parents they started Ananda Ashrama in January 2023.
It provides space for both individuals with their parents. But the children do not live with their parents but in separate accommodations.
The facility now takes care of 10 individuals and five families live at the centre with their kids but many more are waiting in line for entry.
“We have a waiting list of both individuals and those with families. We are constructing a new building where we can accommodate 10 more individuals,” said Arunasis Adhikari, founder and managing trustee, Bhabna Trust, that runs Ananda Ashrama.
“But the kids do not live with their parents. They
stay in separate block. The idea is that children should be trained in self-help skills. It could be as basic as eating, going to the washroom or the things that one needs to do in their everyday life,” said Adhikari.
“At times when parents live with their children they tend to help them,” said Adhikari.
The individuals are also given training in baking, handicraft, gardening, pre-cooking, and cooking skills.
Indrani Basu, founder-director of Autism Society West Bengal, lauded the efforts of the parents to start such an initiative but simultaneously rued the fact that the society still fails to integrate them.
“Such facilities are needed more because there is non-acceptance of people with disabilities in society. The society is still not inclusive,” said Basu, who attended the anniversary programme.
“People with disabilities are vulnerable and there is still a tendency to brush them aside, tease them and the society fails to accept them. Where are the policies to safeguard the vulnerable,” she said.