Rehabilitation of differently-abled persons no longer means the usual soap, phenol and candle-making. Kozhikode Parivar, an organisation of parents of intellectually-challenged persons, is engaged in ensuring their inclusiveness.
The Ability Pay and Park facility that has come up under the AKG Flyover on Francis Road here is the first-of-its-kind initiative in the State.
Four intellectually-challenged persons who have been trained in issuing parking tickets and calculating and collecting parking fee have been deployed in the parking area which has been leased out from the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation by Kozhikode Parivar for a year. Mayor Thottathil Raveendran opened the facility on December 20.
“There is no point in locking up these kids. They have to mingle with others, and that makes a lot of difference in their life than any occupational therapy,” said P. Zikander, secretary of Kozhikode Parivar, father of an autistic child himself.
Training
Being part of Humanity Charitable Trust, which runs a vocational rehabilitation centre for intellectually-challenged persons, helped Mr. Zikander coordinate the initiative. Twelve others have also been trained to be deployed on the west side of the bridge.
“We are planning to train these children in different vocations and deploy them in various institutions. They are very good at doing repetitive jobs, like opening doors, if well trained,” Mr. Zikander said.
There is also a plan to introduce some hyperactive children to agriculture, he added.