Blog

@Arch Foundation

16
Feb

Social Impact of Skill Building program
Posted By: archfoundation

Success is a relative word which means different things to different people but one thing is for sure – there is no greater joy than living a life filled with dignity and opportunities. Social acceptance is a basic necessity of life and we at Arch recognise this basic need and aspire to create a platform of synergy, sensitivity and mutual respect between the abled and differently abled.

Dhara is 16 years old. She is hearing and speech impaired suffering from poor cognitive skills. Her parents tell us that she had no friends and failed to communicate even with family on most occasions. Her parents brought her to Naya Savera hoping for a miracle that one day their daughter leads a regular life of social interaction with members of the family and perhaps a few neighbours. 6 months later they were left spell-bound! Dhara was a different person! She had slowly crawled out of her shell to make positive interactions with people around her. Today, much to her parent’s joy Dhara has a job and is leading a life of respect, dignity and lots of joy.

In the last 50 years considerable work has begun in field of learning disabilities. Herculean efforts have been made and time and resources diverted towards academic improvement of the disabled to develop language, science and mathematical skills essential to socially empower them. However, it’s only in the last 25 years that the role of nurturing social skills is being recognised as a critical factor for overall success of individuals with learning disabilities to conduct their life in a respectful manner.

factor for overall success of individuals with learning disabilities to conduct their life in a respectful manner.

Various research papers and scrutiny tells us that people with any sort of handicap are less accepted by society. They are shy, insecure and awkward in social situations. They find it difficult to address to simple social problems and are unable to predict the reactions and consequences of their own social behaviour. They cannot relate and adapt to conversations and discussions easily and often fail to put forth their feelings forward. While most are susceptible to negative energy, body language and criticism from peers and teachers they unfortunately also receive less affection from their own family. Adjusting to new social situations, failures and rejection is very difficult for them and they find it extremely tough to take such emotions in their stride.  Most believe that providing a common platform of education is enough for them, yet the truth is that they need the right social skills to build self-confidence, self-reliance and true social competence to real empowerment.

We at ARCH recognize the importance of uplifting the overall morale of the differently- abled by honing their social and vocational skills. Under Naya Savera, a project powered by L&T Technology Services Ltd.,, we have successfully imparted development and training to more than 200 differently-abled youth where classroom and practical guidance is given in subjects like soft skills and etiquette management, inter-personal communication, counseling sessions, computer training and exposure visits to name a few.

 

The most common factors that determine the impact of such a program is generally measured in terms of financial growth a person can and has achieved post the training. Yet, we at ARCH have identified a new dimension in studying the impact. We measure social and behavioral change in not only the participants but also their parents to determine the real footprint of the program.

The following table is an indicator of the impact of pre and post training program among 300 differently-abled youth conducted by us.



This assessment was done by a by certified counselor who interviewed the students and parents before and after the training session. The feedback received was phenomenal.

There is a popular proverb – Your Attitude determines your Altitude. Arch is proud to say that the changes observed in the participants were remarkable and note-worthy. While most were struggling with low confidence and poor self-esteem before the training, post training saw a completely new and confident avatar of them. After 5 months they evolved highly motivated and enthusiastic. Most wanted to hone linguistic skills and take up advance courses in order to land good jobs at reputed organizations. The fear of being socially unaccepted or ridiculed at didn’t seem to bother them.



The line diagram indicates the feedback of parents of the disabled pre and post training. Parents were questioned about factors like confidence, attitude towards society, Making new friends, independence and involvement in decision making in their children before and after the training. As clearly indicated, there is huge change and positive impact recorded in the social behavior after undertaking the Skill Building program by us.

Success is a relative word which means different things to different people but one thing is for sure – there is no greater joy than living a life filled with dignity and opportunities. Social acceptance is a basic necessity of life and we at Arch recognise this basic need and aspire to create a platform of synergy, sensitivity and mutual respect between the abled and differently abled.