Har subah sirf utho mat Jaago Re TATA TEA

Eight year old Alpesh Rameshbhai Thakor resides in Pravinnagar Guptanagar-2, Vasna. His father, Rameshbhai is an employee AMC while his mother Laxshmiben is a homemaker and takes care of his siblings.

Alpesh suffered his first convulsive attack while he was just six days old. He was given an emergency treatment, which helped his condition but after six months he suffered a severe convulsive attack. In the meantime it was discovered that Alpesh suffered from a cerebral palsy, a disorder which affects the child’s motor skills. Motor skills may be affected to the extent that the common "developmental milestones" like sitting, crawling, rolling over, and smiling and walking are all delayed. Some children are impassive; others do not react to noises while some children experience difficulty in following the movement of objects. As these attacks continued the family had to bear with huge expenses for Alpesh’s treatment which led them to finally sell their house and move on to a rented house.

Finally Laxshmiben heard about the Urban Resource Centre through community meetings and came to know that the URC was doing work on disability. She approached the URC where Kiranben guided her with detailed information related to disability. She also took Laxshmiben to the Polio Foundation in Astodia where physio-therapy is given as a treatment. For seven months Alpesh has been undergoing physio-therapy treatment. After this, some improvement was found in him. He is now able to move, speak a few words and even understand what others speak.

With Kiranben‘s guidance, Laxshmiben has also got a disability identification certificate for Alpesh, which will make him eligible to access various government schemes.
Alpesh has a savings and loan account in “Sakhi Bachat Mandal” in his mother’s name. Laxshmiben deposits 50 rupees per month as savings. She is happy and thankful to the URC who supported and guided her on her son’s disability.

Like families in Guptanagar, and those of persons with disabilities, such as Alpesh, there are thousands of households that have no where to go, and no understanding of their rights and services that have been created for them. The Urban Resource Centres are reaching out to these families educating them and linking them with the necessary information and support to access their rights.