They are different...They are called Mentally Challenged, but we prefer to call them DIFFERENTLY ABLED. By definition they have I.Q. less than 70, meaning thereby, that their mental abilities are less than 70% of the average person of their age. However, they may have better development of some skills than the others.
They need to be assessed properly to find out the level of development of their different abilities. Then an educational program needs to be drawn to develop the abilities to their maximum limit. This can be done in a normal school, or in a special school, or at home with the guidance from a special educator. After the age of 18 yrs. They need to be given vocational training to suit their abilities and help them become self-sufficient and thereby fit into society.
They are about 2% - 3% of the total population, which means that there are about 2000 to 3000 differently abled children in and around Ratnagiri City. Considering the need of the Mentally Challenged persons in this region who had some help available only in the big cities like Mumbai & Pune at that time, we, a group of people interested in the development of Mentally Challenged, came together in 1986 to form a Voluntary Organization.
It is named 'Aavishkar', which means 'blooming' or 'bringing out the hidden talents. Presently there are about 300 members in our organization, who contribute towards carrying out our various activities.
