Park for people with special needs comes up

Hyderabad: The State government is all set to inaugurate the National Park for people with special needs. The park is first of its kind in the country. It is meant for special needs children. The park is scheduled to be inaugurated by Minister for Muncial Administration and Industries KT Rama Rao between December 11 and 15.

Dr Sumeria, Administration in charge and physiotherapist, told The Hans India, “The project for National Park for people with special needs is a joint venture of Ayesha Rubina, Corporator of Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation, and GHMC. The maintenance part of the park is being taken care by GHMC officials and we with Ayesha Rubina would take care of blocks which we have constructed where we would provide training and therapy sessions to the children with different forms of disability.”

She further added, “The park will have medicinal and herb plants planted in it to cater to the needs of special needs children. We would have five blocks in the campus namely the Ortho sensory block where we will provide physiotherapy sessions to children and other people, Mental Retardation block, here we will perform IQ tests for the children with mental retardation and also provide them counselling as to how to mingle with common people and overcome their fears.

Radiology lab is to test the degree of hearing and vocal impairment among people and give them comprehensive report after testing, Speech therapy block, here we will give speech therapy to the people suffering from vocal disorder and lastly the visual impairment block, where we will train the visually impaired people how to read and write on Braille. Apart from this, we will also have an amphitheatre in the campus, where we will conduct workshops and conferences for people across the State to spread awareness on disability, and how people with disability should be handled.”

When asked about the project cost, Dr Sumeria said, “The estimated cost for putting up the park is somewhere around Rs 73 lakh, wherein the cost of the equipment which we are yet to bring is Rs 38 lakh, this cost would be borne by Ayesha Rubina through funds, and the rest 35 lakhs cost would be taken care by the state GHMC officials.”

Ayesha Rubina apart from being a corporator, is also a rights activist for people with special needs. She runs a special needs school under the banner of Ayesha educational society, where she provides education to children with all forms of disability free of cost.