It can be devastating to live with a Hearing and Speech impairment for anyone. It affects one’s quality of life, impairs one’s social interactions, and even creates hurdles one’s ability of pursuing a career. Owing to the lack of facilities in our part of the valley, people invariably travel long distances for treatment. We have a Hearing a Speech unit at our center set up along modern lines to conduct audiometric tests.
Hope Centre doesn’t charge for performing Audiometric tests to its beneficiaries. Hearing aids are also donated free of cost to poor and marginalized people with a preference for persons with disabilities. Follow-up services are also free, and other issues of the hearing aid or any other problems are quickly attended to and provided solutions.
The beneficiary is assessed at the center by the professionals who devise a treatment plan for his speech therapy.
The treatment is planned following the need of the patient. Speech therapy is a time-consuming process. The treatment is given regularly till the beneficiary shows improvement.
Accessibility
Home & School Modification
Creating accessible homes and schools for children and persons with disabilities is vital for creating a barrier-free world. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state that the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities would be incomplete without making their homes accessible. Likewise, getting in and out of classrooms poses a challenge for children with disabilities.
Creating accessible homes forms an inalienable part of the rehabilitation process for persons with disabilities.
From the time we jumped into the domain of disability, we have carried out low-cost modifications of 240 homes. Similarly, we have built ramps in 10 schools to ease the mobility of children with disabilities. We also advocate for making private and public places and government institutions like banks, parks, ATMs, etc disability friendly by building ramps.
Accessibility Workshops and Audits
To raise awareness about the importance of enhancing accessibility for persons with disabilities, we regularly conduct workshops with our beneficiaries and school authorities in the community and the schools themselves. Aside from technical staff shedding light on the impact of accessibility as a core element in the rehabilitation aspect, we also invite stakeholders, officials from the government, and experts in the field of disability for the same. In addition, participants are enlightened about the technical details regarding the building of ramps and the modification of bathrooms.
We have also been advocating for the need to improve the accessibility for persons with disabilities in private and government institutions and public places to create a barrier free society.
Audits
We place a premium on the transparency and integrity of our organization. All our financials are above board and regularly uploaded on our website for all to see. The receipt and payment details thoroughly vetted by the registered Chartered Accountants are published in the annual report and uploaded on the website. We get our financials audited by reputed auditors. We hire services of three well-known auditors such as BISMAJ & Co, Bashir Associates USA Company, Adnan & Associates, and TR Chadda (Third party).
Education
Inclusive Education
Although it is difficult to put an exact number to the estimated number of children with disabilities across the world, we know that, like all children, children with disabilities have dreams and aspirations. Like all children, they need quality education to develop their skills and realize their dreams.
Most of the children physically rehabilitated at the Hope Centre get to go to schools following facilitation by our organization. Apart from disabilities that prevent children from going to schools, other barriers such as stigma, lack of awareness, parental hesitance, mobility, accessibility, and poverty also come into play in keeping them off schools.
We advocate robustly for inclusive education to create equal educational opportunities for children regardless of all possible barriers. We hold sensitization workshops in schools and the community on the significance of education for all.
The efforts are bearing fruit as more children with disabilities have registered themselves in schools in the areas where we have been intervening in the past many years. It is a work in progress though.