What has moved me and continues to ( though I am unable to act on it/ make amends) is how few choices APAAR's clients have. How resource limited we remain here at APAAR.
Anil ( name changed) has returned to APAAR after some months of trying to get a paid beauty salon job. He graduated from vocational training for salon work last Aug. He has been apprenticing with a relative in a beauty salon in Nakodar for the last 4 months. Around Diwali 2021, he showed up to work in Apaar' s sheltered workshop for the holidays.
Then early Jan 2022 , he returned to APAAR'S sheltered workshop for good saying he was not interested in salon work. Digging further, we learned that Anil s hands would shake during hair cuts. We had failed him.
Jalandhar has NO practising occupational therapist. Punjab has one in Ludhiana-- Anil needs OT support to work well in his favourite vocation of beauty salon work.
Our next task is to find an occupational therapist to assist Anil and hopefully celebrate our first successful community placement . It indeed takes a village.
The disability landscape is severely underresourced in north Indian states.
