KOCHI: An accidental decision made nearly 20 years ago has turned into a boon for many children with special needs. Back then, K Neelakantan was going over the telephone directory in search of an activity to keep him engaged after retirement. “I served the Indian Railways for 30 years and the Steel Authority of India for 10 years. I couldn’t fathom the thought of sitting idle after retirement,” said Neelakantan, who is 86-years-old now.
While going through the phone numbers, he came across Snehanilayam, a school for children with special needs. “I called the number. The nun who was in charge there heard me, asked me to come over and spend some time with them,” he said. Neelakantan ended up teaching the children once a week.“Spending time with them helped me understand their behaviour. I didn’t have much knowledge about dealing with the children. I realised that spending just a day per week is not enough to guide them towards rehabilitation,” he said. It was then that one of his friends suggested another centre catering to the needs of such children.
“It was the Adarsh Charitable Trust based in Kureekad near Tripunithura in Ernakulam. It was founded by three individuals who knew little about how to take care of children with special needs,” he added. “Compared to Snehanilayam, this school cut a very sorry figure. They had just seven children and the staff appointed wasn’t trained to handle the kids. It was a mess,” said Neelakantan.
The retired railway traffic service officer jumped right in and decided to fix things. “We organised camps, trained teachers and staff. Slowly, the number of students began to increase,” he said. Initially, the school was only catering just to children with cerebral palsy. “This was because one of the founders was a physiotherapist. After I came in, we opened the school’s doors to children with autism too,” he said.
This was just the beginning of a long fruitful journey, both for the institution and children who benefitted from Neelakantan’s vision. He was instrumental in setting up separate learning sections for autism, down syndrome and learning disorders. He set up the Risk Baby Unit, a mobile hospital unit in 2005. “It is always good to catch the disability right at the childhood, since it will enable the training of the child from a very young age,” he said.
Neelakantan recently wrote a book on the journey of Adarsh and the initiatives the trust undertakes to rehabilitate children with physical and psychological challenges. It also talks about the challenges the trust faces while pursuing its mission and also the inspiring stories of children who have achieved great milestones in their lives.