Crishna, Brinda
(2018)
Partnering with the Government: achieving sustainable
special education goals for children with hearing impairment:
a case study from Assam.
Learning Curve (30).
pp. 46-50.
Abstract
As a professional who has worked in the disability
sector in many parts of the world, my greatest
challenge has always been in constantly questioning
my own levels of understanding and acceptance
as in reality, the life a person who is disabled, or a
mother of a child who gives birth to a child with a
disability and not the perfect child she had hoped for,
are truths that one cannot begin to comprehend. As
I have grown older and my years of ‘experience’ of
gaining ‘knowledge and expertise’ have increased,
the more aware and convinced I am of how little I
really do know, how quickly the professional in me
jumps to conclusions and makes value judgements
of good and bad practice, how easily one falls prey
to feelings of superiority because one feels that we
have so many answers.
This philosophy and line of thought has influenced
all the work I have done, and influenced the way
we approach our work in VAANI. When considering
a partnership with a hearing-impaired child, a
parent, an NGO, or the government, it is the belief
that we need to listen, to build trust, to understand
the other’s point of view, before one can start
any kind of a relationship and that, I can say with
pride, has made most of our work successful and
sustainable. It is only then truly need based.
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