As centres for the disabled remain shut and the pandemic scare looms, continuing therapies for children born with disabilities whose parents or grandparents survived the tragedy and those affected by poisoned water bodies owing to reported unscientific disposal of chemical waste by the pesticide plant, have been hit. Autistic children are more restless and irritable now, while those with cerebral palsy have regained muscle tightness, say experts.
“Until normalcy returns and children can come to us, we can only make sure their condition doesn’t worsen, if not improve,” said Suryaprakash Singh, special educator with Chingari Trust, catering to 1,067 such children. Now, five teams of four therapists each, after two-month online therapy didn’t yield results, head out in vans to different parts of old Bhopal at 10.30 a.m., covering at least 30-35 children every day. But at the Trust, where every child received 45-minute of each session, three-four sessions are crammed in half-hour now.