At this juncture through CRUSADE she received a tricycle from Adianath Jain trust. She is immensely happy to be independent to move around. She has also sought Job card from Panchayat to join MGNREGP which assures 100 days paid work in a year. Her childhood friends expect Poosam to join them for work in Government scheme.

CRUSADE also provide devices such as walking sticks, blind sticks, wheel chairs, walkers, elbow sticks, knee caps, etc. after assessing the needs. So far around 430 PwDs have been covered for the provision of such devices which greatly improve their mobility and enable them to participate in day to day activities. To some of them it gives the extra benefit of getting enrolled in Employment Guarantee scheme of the state which requires their presence at the work site for getting wage

Livelihood Assistance

CRUSADE believes that disabled people have ideas, skills and talents like anyone else. If these are supported and nurtured in the right way, there is enormous potential for them to overcome some of the barriers they face and replace poverty and hunger with sustainable livelihoods and food security. However, this has been an uphill task as most PwDs in the project area are limited by poverty, lack of education and skills and most importantly low self-confidence and self-esteem. The various stigmas surrounding PwDs make it difficult for them to find employment. A majority of the PwDs are dependent on the MGNREGA as their primary sources of income. Very few of them are engaged with a company or have employment that provides a reasonable amount of remuneration. CRUSADE seeks to improve the livelihoods of the PwDs’ by increasing household income and nutrition status by providing loans/ grants to acquire livestock and encourage them to pursue income generating act ivities such as running a grocery or petty shop. Owning livestock as an asset gives the differently abled confidence and independence in successfully overcoming the challenges of disability.

CRUSADE actively motivates and supports persons with disabilities (PwDs) to engage in economic activities, except in cases of profound disabilities or severe mental illness. To empower them, CRUSADE provides loans to help start income-generating ventures, fostering financial stability and a sense of dignity

To enhance his livelihood, he has availed internal loan of Rs 10,000 from the group and from PLF ( Panchayat Level Federation) Rs 50,000 and invested in a milch animal and earn Rs 100 to Rs 150/day by selling 5 to 6 litres of milk . He has the previous experience of hiring bullock cart. Radhakrishnan also grows vegetables in a small piece of land (1.5 cent) owned by Neighbours. He grows aborigine, Ladies finger and chilies and after distributing the vegetables to his neighbours, he sells the surplus to get some additional income.

He got good harvest of snake guard and ridge guard “As I sell vegetables at a lesser price than market rate people buy vegetables form me. Vegetable seeds are very expensive and I have to travel a distance to buy seeds. The quality is not assured and expensive. So I very much appreciate CRUSADE’s initiative to provide seeds at a nominal rate at my door step which is very convenient. If people make use of the opportunity like me, they can grow vegetables organically and consume fresh vegetables, grown without any pesticides” saysDass.

They have two children, one daughter and one son both studying in the primary school in the village. The meagre income of Raja is hardly sufficient to run the family. Although Sathiya gets her maintenance allowance from the state, with two children the family is struggling to meet all essential needs. vIt is at this juncture CRUSADE started the six months tailoring training for the women in the village in which 22 have enrolled for the training and Sathiya is one among the trainees. She underwent the entire course with self-confidence and within two months she started stitching her cloths. At the end of the training CRUSADE provided the machine she was using for training free of cost. She is grateful to CRUSADE for organising the training at her door-step and waived the nominal fee which other women paid and to get the machine free of cost at the end of course. Sathiya is confident she can supplement her family income with her new found skill in tailoring.

Later he enrolled himself in the special group for PWDs formed by Crusade named NANBARGAL (Friends special group). He has availed Rs.30000 from Crusade, which otherwise would be difficult for him to avail from any other source because of his disability. Being a member in the group has made it possible and he is happy in extending his Grocery and Tiffin shop. Subramanian is happy for running his own shop with the support of his family members and thankful to Crusade for rendering such a support

Skill Training

In order widen the employment opprtunity to PwDs CRUSADE provide skill training in tailoring besides facilitating training in externally in the institutions. CRUSADE provided six-month course tailoring training to 90 PwDs across the four blocks free of cost and provided them sewing machines at the end of the training sponsored under Corporate Social Responsibility grants.

Integrating health care

As recommended in an evaluation of the programme, in an attempt to provide health care to PwDs in special groups, a homeopath visit the groups to assess the health status of the members in the groups, to provide medical treatment, counselling and referral servicesto those having health issues. The members of the groups are also motivated to attend the mobile clinics , eye camps and cancer camps conducted by CRUSADE in project villages.

Vishal ‘s parents spent more for treatment than they could afford with the hope that their son will recover but were frustrated when left with debts because of huge medical expenses. Vishal could no more walk as both his legs were affected and couldn’t continue his studies due to blurred vision. With the help of peer mentor of CRUSADE who is a neighbour Vishal was assisted to visit the Taluk hospital at Ponneri where he was given Disability ID card with 90% locomotor disability. He was enrolled in the special group for PwDs in the village named PuthuVasantham(NewSpring) run by the mentor. CRUSADE also facilitated Vishal with a walker which enabled him to be independent and move around without his mother’s support. Vishal’s mother also noticed some behaviour changes in him after his disability. Vishal who was studious earlier is depressed as he couldn’t study nor go out to play cricket. It reflected in his anger towards family members. His mother put up a request to the mentor for any intervention that will improve his condition. CRUSADE Homoeopathy volunteer visited Vishal and after assessment arranged Homoeopathic medications for behavioral change. After in-take of the medicine for a couple of months there has been remarkable change in him. He is now able to walk with support and looks cheerful and happy.

Flood Relief

The 2023 monsoon brought unprecedented rain in some areas in Tamil Nadu including Tiruvallur district and in the impact the modest houses of PwDs, mostly mud walls with thatch roof were fully damaged. With the support of Salt of the Earth, CRUSADE revamped thatch roof of six homes of disabled women. The damaged house of Munusamy in Ayyanallur village in Gummidipondi block was replaced with asbestos sheets roof and steel pillars.

Progress of ‘Vallamai’ (Strength) Trust, the Federation of support groups of PwDs.

Vallamai is a registered federation of special groups of the disabled. A total of 194 groups in the four blocks have joined the federation so far. The groups pay an annual subscription of Rs.100 to show their solidarity. Vallamai Federation has a built in Revolving Fund which it uses for providing financial assistance at low rate of interest to PwDs for income generation, housing and other felt needs of Group members through members.

Security

The disabled are vulnerable; they often meet with untimely deaths due to disease complications or accidents. Initially, we planned to providelife insurance to cover the disabled members of the group when they die. However,administering a system for life coverage, especially getting an annual premium from all members, is complicated. Instead, we decided to provide a small grant to the legal heir of the family when the disabled members die or lose their livelihood due to disease or accident. In addition the legal heirs of PwDs registered with State Welfare board for the Differently Abled get Rs 17500 grant in the event of demise of the disabled person. CRUSADE encourages the members to get registered with the Welfare board and facilitate to avail the benefit. CRUSADE has, so far, reached out to 20 families in its project villages,giving small grants of Rs 5000 each