
AMITH DHOLAKIA
Chairperson, Board of Sense International India
Our Vision is of a world in which all children and adults with deafblindness and multiple disabilities can be full and active members of society.
Our purpose is to work in partnership with others - people with deafblindness and multiple disabilities, their families, caregivers and professionals - to ensure that everyone facing challenges because of deafblindness and multiple disabilities has access to advice, opportunities and support.
The values guide all that we do:
The worth of Individuals: We embrace diversity and respond to Individual needs.
Self-determination: We promote the rights of individuals and provide support for this where necessary.
Personal fulfilment: We promote opportunities for all individuals to develop and achieve their potential.
Openness and honesty: Our interactions are transparent, open to scrutiny and built on trust and accountability.
95% of what we learn is through our eyes and ears. Imagine what it is like to be deafblind!
Deafblindness is a unique disability that combines varying degrees of both hearing and visual impairment. All individuals who are deafblind experience extreme challenges with communication, mobility as well as accessing information and most have additional physical and medical conditions. Persons with deafblindness face neglect and discrimination owing to their inability to communicate and relate to the world. They are thus denied even the basic human rights like education, medical care, amongst other needs that are taken for granted by most of us.
There is very little awareness about deafbliness amongst the government, general public and other NGOs working in the area of disability. Due to this situation many children and adults with deafblindness are left without support and even considered severely intellectually impaired incorrectly. What most people do not know is that children and adults with deafblindness can become active members of society if provided with the right care and support.
Sense International India (also known as Sense India) is the only national-level organisation supporting needs-based services which enables children and adults with deafblindness to overcome the challenges caused due to deafblindness.
Sense India's key objective is to provide information, guidance, support and training needed along with being committed to supporting persons with deafblindness and multiple disabilities and their families by raising awareness and campaigning for their rights, opportunities and services throughout the nation.
Sense India’s core team has required expertise in the domains of deafblind communication, mobility, accessible information, assistive devices and rehabilitation. With its unique technical know-how & experience since 1997 in the field of deafblindness and multiple disabilities, Sense India uses a multi-pronged approach which, includes technical/ financial assistance to its partner NGOs and direct capacity building of their staff to work with children and adults with deafblindness and multiple disabilities.
AMITH DHOLAKIA
Chairperson, Board of Sense International India
AMITH DHOLAKIA
Chairperson, Board of Sense International India
Amith Dholakia started his own company of real estate developments and contracts in 1987 and after a decade of experience in estate developments, he started his own brand in hospitality industry comprising of 320 keys in resorts, service apartments and hotel spaces in Mumbai, Pune and Goa. He is also on the advisory boards of renowned NGOs like DEEDS, GODS, SNEHALAYA and an independent institution at Thane which is a Day School & Community Centre for physically and mentally challenged. He was president of the Rotary Club of Bombay Pier in 2006-07 and is still very actively involved with Rotary Projects.
KRIS MURALI
Member, Board of Sense International India
KRIS MURALUI
Member, Board of Sense International India
Kris Murali is part of Sense's senior management team and works closely with the chief executive, driving strategy and leading the finance, ICT, estates, facilities, internal audit and health and safety functions. By profession, he is a chartered accounted, chartered manager and a fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. He has over 30 years of experience in commercial and general management in both private and non-profit sector along with developing business and working hand on in Africa, Asia and USA.
DIVYA BHALLA
Member, Board of Sense International India
DIVYA BHALLA
Member, Board of Sense International India
Divya Bhalla, former Director - Vatika Group, a real estate and hospitality company for 13 years and during her tenure she handled corporate communications of the entire group including branding, advertising and product positioning. During this phase, she also established "V Care", a trust devoted to funding the education of under privileged children. Currently, she is chairperson of Matrikiran and her focus is not just educating children but developing them into better human beings.
RAJIVE RATURI
Member, Board of Sense International India
RAJIVE RATURI
Member, Board of Sense International India
Rajive Raturi is member of the National Human Rights Commission. He is MBA and worked in the corporate sector in India and Africa for 17 years in senior Managerial assignments. He moved to the social sector after suffering an accident which left him with a visual disability. He now has over 15 years of work experience in the Social sector with Disability Rights as his core area of work. During this period, as Senior Director in Human Rights Law Network, Rajive has networked actively with persons with disabilities and DPOs at a national level. He has worked towards capacity building of DPOs, providing legal services through a network of socially minded lawyers, supported persons with disabilities in filing individual litigations with Commissioner Disabilities, Administrative tribunals and the High courts. He also supported DPOs in challenging systemic violations by filing PILs in High Courts and the Supreme Court, led national level campaigns on law reform and the right to vote.
RICHARD COOPER
Member, Board of Sense International India
RICHARD COOPER
Member, Board of Sense International India (Ex-Officio Sense International)
Richard Cooper previously worked in International Equity Sales at Deutsche Bank AG, and has spent over 20 years in the City of London Richard first became involved with Sense International in 2004, after joining a trek in Romania. Since then Richard has participated in a number of further treks for Sense International in Romania, Spain and Scotland. In 2012, Richard was able to attain funding from the CLSA Chairman's Trust which enabled the funding of three resource centres and a home visit programme in Jharkhand, India.
NANDINI RAWAL
Member, Board of Sense International India
NANDINI RAWAL
Member, Board of Sense International India
Nandini Rawal is the Executive Director of Blind People’s Association. She has a Master’s in Business Administration and has been working in the field of development of innovations and administration of disability development programmes for the last 30+ years. Her goal is to professionalize services for persons with disabilities and to promote comprehensive, need based and low cost services for persons with all categories of disabilities.
Akhil S Paul
Director
Akhil S Paul
Director
Akhil S. Paul is the Director and Founder member of Sense International India. He is former Vice President of Deafblind International (DbI), a world association promoting services for people with deafblindness. He is also a Founder Member of the Board of the National Trust for Welfare of People with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple disabilities. He has represented deafblindness and multiple disability on various national and international forums and was in the core committee to draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. His efforts have been recognised by HSBC-Indo British Award - 2003 for outstanding services to people with deafblindness in India and Young Leader Award in the ‘Community Service and Social Upliftment’ category at the prestigious Lakshmipat Singhania - IIM Lucknow National Leadership Awards to name a few.
Uttam Kumar
Director- Programme
Uttam Kumar
Director- Programme
The Programmes Team is led by Uttam Kumar. The team includes Mr. Rajesh Varghese and Mr. Reflino Fernandes as Sr. Manager Programme, Ms. Kanu Priya as Sr. Officer Programme and Sukrati. The team manages projects in 23 states of India and supporting National Resource Centre on Deafblindness in Nepal and Bangladesh.
Parag Namdeo
Head-Advocacy and Networks
Parag Namdeo
Head-Advocacy and Networks
The Advocacy and Network Team is headed by Parag Namdeo, supported by Deepak Krishna Sharma, Manager Networks and Shrutilata Singh as Advocacy Officer. The team is managing 3 national level networks of teachers, families and persons with deafblindness.
Sachin Rizal
Head-Capacity Building
Sachin Rizal
Head-Capacity Building
The Training and Research team is headed by Sachin Rizal, supported by Srinivasan P as Manager Training, Rashmikant Mishra as Sr. Officer Training, Kalyani Jadhav and Mercy Chingnunmuang as Officer Training. The team is responsible to provide training on deafblindness and multiple disabilities along with developing publications.
Moushumi Banerjee
Head-Public Engagement
Moushumi Banerjee
Head-Public Engagement
Our Public Engagement Team is headed by Moushumi Banerjee. The team includes Shivkumar Sharma as Sr Manager - Digital Enagagement, Keerthi Uthappa as Manager - Public Engagement, Iarbaaz Shaikh as Manager Foundations & Corporates, Shreelatha S as Officer Public Engagement, Manali Shah Sr. Officer Donor Engagement, Pinku Shah, Nethravathi S and Manjula R as Officer Donor Engagement, Deepali Sharma, Jaya Shah, Niyati Panchal, Prachi Panchal, Ushma Chaudhari as Donor Care Executive team
Richard Mascarenhas
Director-Finance
Richard Mascarenhas
Director-Finance
The Finance and Admin operations of Sense India is headed by Richard Mascarenhas. The team includes Vardan Sengar as Manager - Finance, Dhara Mali and Khyati Shah as Sr. Officer Accounts, Marina Augustin as Officer - Accounts, Soyeb Malek as Officer- ICT, Ashraf Malek and Shahrukh Ajmeri as Office Assistant.
Back in 1997, there was only one school in India providing education and other services to 23 children with deafblindness, in a country where there are an estimated 500,000 children and adults with this multi-sensory disability. To address this dire need, Sense India was established in 1997 as the first national NGO in India to support the development of comprehensive services and training for people with deafblindness. Currently Sense India is working in 23 States of India through a network of 59 partner NGOs. Our work is transforming the lives of more than 78,000+ people with deafblindness- from isolation and neglect to communication, interaction and self-esteem.
We provide education for children with deafblindness, vocational training and livelihood support to adults, training for families and professionals, and help in capacity building of other NGOs to work with children and adults with deafblindness. We also advocate for the rights of people with deafblindness in communities, NGO networks and government to ensure that deafblindness does not isolate them in the society and that people with deafblindness are able to earn a livelihood and lead a productive life.
Less than 16% of India's people with deafblindness receive any form of support. Most children with deafblindness in India have no access to any kind of education, while some are sent to schools that lack the necessary skills and tools to help them develop. Most children with deafblindness in India still remain in total isolation at home owing to this disability.
With expert support and training, people with deafblindness can learn to use any residual vision or hearing and other senses to understand their world and to lead full and active lives. At the same time, their families can receive the hope and support they need to make the best choices for their future and livelihood.
Handbook on Curriculum Adaptation for Inclusive Education of Students with Deafblindness
The handbook aims to enable teachers to adapt and modify classroom curriculum.
Play (Hindi)
For Children with Deafblindness and Multiple Disabilities. It is very much important to know the residual vision and hearing ability of the children with deafblindness, which can be used to encourage.
Curriculum Based Functional Assessment Checklist for Individuals with Deafblindness of Early Intervention and Functional Academic Groups
The book contains information on the curriculum
Management of children with Deafblindness with Cerebral Palsy Part –I
Developing Gross Motor Skills Management of children with associated Cerebral Palsy along with Deafblindness
Toilet Training
Toilet Training for children with Deafblindness and multi-sensory impairments. The booklet has been written to enable families, professionals and non-professionals to understand
Incidental learning experiences
Incidental learning experiences with deafblind children in India. This booklet will help the professionals, parents, persons with deafblindness and all those people who are associated with persons
RECENT ANNUAL REPORTS 2019-20
The Annual Report highlights the activities conducted by Sense International India in the respective year.
RECENT ANNUAL REPORTS 2018-19
The Annual Report highlights the activities conducted by Sense International India in the respective year.
RECENT ANNUAL REPORTS 2017-18
The Annual Report highlights the activities conducted by Sense International India in the respective year.
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