Family Empowerment Programme
Family Empowerment program was conducted on 29th March 2019 at ABS centre facilitated by Ms. Jaishree, Special Educator from India and Social Workers of ABS. A total of 19 parents participated. The objective of this program was to make parents be in their children’s shoes and support them in overcoming their difficulty. It also aimed to encourage the parents and let their children perform their best of their ability. The activity commenced with the story of rabbit and tortoise focusing on the morale of helping one another. Then it moved on session where parents experienced multiple emotions. Parents were journeyed out in the open air, had them enclosed in a dark room with disturbing pictures and moved them to a warmer room with serene music. Each activity was aimed in making realization of the life of children with disability. A parent expressed her emotion of how these activities impacted in understanding the ground position of her child and how it made her emotional.
The program wrapped up with the election of parent representatives of ABS through formal voting. Out of the six parent nominees, four parents were elected namely Mr. Chado Rinchen, Mrs. Sonam Dechen, Mr. Passang Sherpa and Dr. Suresh. Mr. Chado Rinchen, who secured maximum vote was nominated to the Board of Trustees. The remaining three parents were considered as parent representatives. The roles of parent representatives are to facilitate activities, act as the voice of parents, initiate programs and take leadership roles. In 2019, ABS initiated to include parent in Board Member to encourage in decision making and promote participation.
Family Empowerment program is one of the clinical activities which gives platform to parents to gather together and participate in activities. It is an opportunity for them to experience the reality of children with disabilities and have them realize to overcome the situation and be the change in the society. Family Empowerment program will be conducted during last Friday of every month with different activities.
