Seventy-year-old S Ramakrishnan is paralysed neck down and is confined to a wheelchair for the last 44 years. But that did not stop him from anything. Today, he rehabilitates persons with disabilities through his organisation Amar Seva Sangam. Born in Salem, as a college student, he had big dreams of joining the defence forces.
When Ramakrishnan was 20 years old in 1975, he moved to Bengaluru to pursue a career in the Navy. His eyes were set on a job with the Naval forces as a fourth-year engineering student. After four days of interviews, he was ordered to leap 15 feet from a tree on the fifth day as part of negotiating hurdles. His cervical spine was damaged as a result of the jump, shattering his ambitions of a Navy career. His neck was damaged and sustained a cervical spine injury, which resulted in a complete loss of sensation and muscle power below his neck. This paralysed him completely and he was confined to a wheelchair.
Though he was physically down, mentally he was strong and he went on to aid persons with disabilities, in the rural areas. He found that the disabled persons in the rural areas didn’t have a life as there were no amenities to rehabilitate them. Ramakrishnan spent the following ten months in Pune undergoing therapy. His orthopedic physician and mentor, Air Marshall Dr. Amarjit Singh Chahal, inspired him here, and Ramakrishnan named the organisation he formed six years later after him. Ramakrishnan established a school for disabled children in Ayikudi in 1981.
Ramakrishnan’s parents donated a small plot of land for the establishment of the Amar Seva Sangam. It all started with a few children and a few activities related to polio prevention and rehabilitation, and has now expanded to 30 acres of property and a range of activities, including a Daycare facility for children with cerebral palsy and mental impairment.
He founded the Siva Saraswathi Vidyala for high school students. In that rural named Ayilkudi, he also included a Rehabilitation centre for people with physical disabilities. That was not the end of it for him. He started a vocational training centre to skill train people with disabilities so they could get jobs. Indira Gandhi National Open University features a Special Study Center, as well as a trainees’ hostel.
He had realised that if someone in his hamlet became disabled, they would have to travel to cities to receive treatment. This is something that not everyone is capable of. As a result, he established an Early Intervention Center for toddlers aged 0 to 5.
Schooling for disabled children and vocational training for disabled adults are both offered free of charge.
S Ramakrishnan, a social crusader, has been granted India’s fourth highest civilian honour, the ‘Padma Shri,’ for his services in the field of rehabilitation for people with disabilities.
Having found Amar Seva Sangam (ASSA) in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, in 1981, Ramakrishnan’s goal was to address disability management in rural regions though he has been paralysed from the neck down and has spent the last 44 years in a wheelchair.
Several of the organization’s social outreach efforts have been recognised, including hosting polio administration camps in villages and establishing integrated schools where differently abled children study alongside their physically abled peers.
Today, Amar Seva Sangam has grown into a leading organisation in the field of handicap management, with a particular focus on rural areas. More than 13,000 disabled people in more than 300 villages are served by this organisation.
“Once I realized there was no denying my condition, I was keen to know what was in store for me. I wanted to continue living life to the fullest,” says S Ramakrishanan.
“My institute’s mission is to empower the Differently Abled citizens by establishing a “Valley for the Differently Abled” as a Rehabilitation and Development Centre for the region and developing models for self-help initiatives by integrating the Differently Abled individuals with the society for improved living conditions in the villages” says the proud activist.
“We serve around 15,000 differently abled people in 9 blocks of Tirunelveli District through our Village-Based Rehabilitation Initiative(VBRI). With a population of almost 17 lakhs, it covers nearly 800 villages. Differently-abled people, as well as the community, are included in the rehabilitation process. We collaborate with our stakeholders to create a model in which they accept responsibility for rehabilitation, economic development, and caregiving, as well as implementing our organization’s goals. We have aided over 350 dynamic and proactive disability groups, 7 respite centres, and countless parent associations in our local neighbourhood using this concept.” says Ramakrishnan
His school for the disabled spread its wings and became a big movement in the next few decades and now has children from more than 300 places in rural Tamil Nadu.
He received the Dr Ambedkar Award from former President Pranab Mukherjee in 2017 for Amar Seva Sangam. The following year in 2018, he was conferred with a Lifetime Achievement award for his work.
“Even during this Covid 19 Pandemic time Amar Seva Sangam continuously striving to reach out to the needy. More than 250 PwDs staying in Amar Seva Sangam have been housed for regular therapies and other exercises. However, our regular door-to-door physiotherapy and support to more than 15,000 Persons with Disabilities” says S Ramakrishnan
Since the lockdown days, the children who require rehab have been affected a lot. So our institute has introduced innovative, technology-based rehab programme for the needy challenged kids. Tele rehab is an effective and accessible platform to enable attention, follow-up, and treatment of children with Cerebral Palsy.
The institute didn’t stop with that. They started a programme that is a home-based rehabilitation programme for disabled youngsters. The project’s goal is to provide therapy services to children with disabilities in order to help them develop their functional capacities. Telerehab and minimal contact visits by community-based trained personnel are used to deliver services.
The other awards received by Ramakrishnan include Amazing Indians Award 2016, Dr Mary Verghese Award for Excellence in Empowering Ability 2012, IBN7 Lifetime Achievement award 2007, etc.
(The writer is the founder of Powerful Teachers, an organisation that empowers the elderly)
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