Helping the special children of Mumbai slums | Fusion - WeRIndia

Have you heard of the Mumbai’s Urmi Foundation? It is helping children with developmental disabilities to get access to proper education. So far, they have helped many children against all odds.

Gautam, a ten year old special child did not even know what a school looked like. His parents were ashamed of him and never even considered sending him to school. At this stage, Urmi Foundation intervened and counselled the parents. They explained to the parents regarding special education and what it actually means. Through that, they opened a complete new world for the child.

The foundation was started in Mumbai and it works with children who have developmental disabilities and are living in low income households. They work on the educational and social needs of children who are living with autism, cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome and other such conditions.

Urmi was founded by Sonalee Shyamsundar. Before developing their model, Urmi Foundation has researched 18 special schools located in different locations of Mumbai which were operating under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Coportion (BMC).

After getting the support of BMC to collaborate with the schools, Urmi has run a pilot program with a school in 2012. This marked the true journey of Urmi as they expanded to more schools soon.

Image Reference: Thebetterindia