Deepalaya - Enabling Self-Reliance

Deepalaya celebrated the World Disability Day on the 3rd December’06, at the India Gate in the heart of the capital by participating in the 10th Walk to Freedom. There were to be 154 participants along with 52 differently abled youth from Deepalaya. They were from Gole Kuan, Madanpur Khadar, Transit Camp, Gandhi Basti, Sanjay Colony & VP Singh Camp. There were thousands of other disabled people, their families, friends and activists who had gathered for the event.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit flagged off the walk at 11 a.m. Javed Abidi, the executive director of National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) had pointed out that this year, the World Disability Day has a special significance, marking as it does the end of a decade since the enactment of the Persons with Disabilities Act 1995.
The purpose of this walk was to bring visibility to issues connected to disability and to highlight the fact that disabled people in India have a long way to go before they can have true independence.
The Executive Director of Deepalaya also participated in the program and interacted with the beneficiaries and their parents.