A group of gifted differently abled

New Delhi: As the country commemorates World Disability Day on Sunday, it's time to take a look at some young achievers for whom there's no looking back.

"When I grow up, I want to help my father," says Jatin. Others like Arpit have bigger plans, "I want to be an actor when I grow up." Jatin and Arpit are not just good friends, they both happen to be very good painters too.

There are others in the talent-brigade too. Jyoti and Himashu are national level badminton players in the Special Olympics. Parul is no less. She has won recoginition in athletics in the Special Olympics.

They are all students of the Society for Child Development in Delhi. But when they joined this school almost seven years ago, most of them could not even move.

Over the years therapy has made a difference, and teachers believe that it's not just the traditional therapies like physiotherapy and speech therapy that really makes a difference. What also helps are alternate therapies like art, dance, music and drama therapy.

"The art is considered something which is a means of expression and by invollving yourself in it, you are allowing your inner thoughts to come to the forefront," explains Dr Madhumita Puri, Executive Director of Society for Child Development.

"There is a lot of fine motor coordination when you hold a crayon or a pencil. That is because you are directing it and it's not that you are doing it anywhere you feel like. Unknowingly, you are using many muscles which many be you would not use otherwise," she adds.

Jyoti and Jatin are the lead artists of the school's dance group. Earlier, Jyoti was so shy that she would hardly speak, today, she doesn't lose a chance to shake a leg on the stage. Experts feel that dancing helps these children to get a sense of rhythm in every walk of life.

Drama therapy also plays a similar role of mixing fun and a lot of learning. "By standing on the stage and moving your hands around, one is role-playing. And that role-playing is in itself a very therapeutic situation where you are no longer yourself and you can be anything you want to be," says Dr Puri.

Did you know you could paint even with flowers? That is what one can learn from these little masters, who have many other lessons to teach.

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#World disability day #Society for Child Development