SHAKTHI FOUNDATION

For about a decade, Chennai-based Shakti Foundation has been championing the cause of integrating the physically-challenged into the social stream. The Foundation has been campaigning for the need to put up ramps in public places, to enable those with Disabilities, gain easy access. Shakti Foundation's Project Ramp has freed many physically-challenged persons from the agony of confinement.

"I believe life is short. So play/work hard" - Velan Raghuvir, a victim of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, had scribbled in one of his college books. And life was really short for him. Velan Raghuvir died in May 1998, when he was a little more than 19 years young. Shakti Foundation was conceived and born out of the anguish faced by his parents.

The Foundation had its origin in 1992 and was registered as a trust in 1993. The Shakti Foundation identified with the Adhiparasakthi Medical and Research Hospital as its sole project. This hospital is situated 92 kms from Chennai and caters to the rural poor. The treatment is totally free. The Foundation has equipped this hospital in totality.

In the city of Chennai, the Foundation aspires:

-To have ramps compulsory in all public buildings by implementing the Disabilities Act of 1997 (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights, and Full Participation).

-To have separate parking lots for the physically-challenged.

-To have separate toilets for the physically-challenged.

· Suitable amendments in trains, aircraft's, and public transport to accommodate the wheelchair bound.

- To devise a way an ambulance can reach a hospital quickly when it houses a patient in a critical condition.

· To provide access for all kinds of physically-challenged Citizens at Zebra crossings whereby they get some systems to reach the other side of the roads.

· To get a data bank of all physically-challenged people whereby they register with the Shakti Foundation and the Foundation has a roster.

· To sensitize people to the acute need to empathize with the cause of disability and provide actual amenities for them in the environment, bearing in mind their mobility limitations.

Sympathy is not what the Foundations needs, but constructive positive action. "Because of a life, a movement was started and at the cost of a life, a movement was accelerated. We are here to help anyone who genuinely has a problem" says Vasanth Raghuvir, who runs the Foundation. All Donations to the Shakti Foundation are tax-exempt under 80G exemption.

Address: The Shakthi Foundation, # 9, Manickeswari Road, Kilpauk,
Chennai - 600 010.
Phone: 641 2842, 98400 36993

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