Padma Vibhushan AdoorGopalakrishnan unveils model of the new homes
Thiruvananthapuram: The Thiruvananthapuram-based Different Art Centre (DAC), which empowers young adults with special needs through a variety of innovative programmes, is venturing into a new initiative that would help people with disabilities get a home of their own.
DAC’s new venture ‘MAGIK Homes – Making Accessible Gateways for Inclusive Kerala’ will strive towards providing accessible homes for people with disabilities who do not have any land or home of their own. A model of the new homes was unveiled by Padma Vibhushan AdoorGopalakrishnan, Patron – DAC, and internationally acclaimed film maker, at a press conference organised at the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club. Jiji Thomson IAS, DAC Chairman and former Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala; Hariraj M R, DAC Director and Senior Advocate, High Court, Kerala; and GopinathMuthukad. Executive Director, DAC, and Engineer Manoj Ottapalam, were present.
DAC’s new philanthropic initiative will initially build 14 accessible homes – one home in each district – for identified persons with disabilities from marginalized socio-economic conditions. Like what is seen in foreign nations, each home will be custom-built in accordance with the special needs of the beneficiary. Houses will be built with facilities for different categories of differently-abled people. For instance, visually impaired persons or persons with multiple disabilities, will be given houses constructed in a manner that they are custom-made as per their limitations.
The fact that disability and poverty reinforce each other, thus contributing to increased vulnerability and exclusion, has led DAC to think on the lines of constructing homes for people with disabilities. Magik Homes project will see to it that the beneficiaries would be those persons with disabilities who do not own land anywhere in the country. The project will also take into account families in which more than one member has any kind of disability with a disability percentage of more than seventy. The project will also consider families as beneficiaries if the parents of persons with disabilities are restricted to go out of home to find livelihoods because of the high support needs at home; if the family member with disability is suffering from any other co-morbidity, and if a family has significant financial liabilities due to providing care and health services for the member with disability. Besides these, priority will also be accorded to single mother of children with disabilities.
To raise funds for the construction of houses under the Magic Homes project, various shows including art shows led by artists of the Different Art Centre and events by other prominent artists will be planned.The Magik Homes project was revealed by DAC at a press conference, which was addressed by Padma Vibhushan AdoorGopalakrishnan, Jiji Thomson IAS, GopinathMuthukad., Hariraj M R, and Manoj Ottapalam.
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