CHEERS most innovative development has been its Rehabilitation Facility called the Enabling
Centre. Over the last six years 278 children with sensory disabilities have undergone training at
the Enabling Center and 178 enrolled in schools. Children as young as three years and older with
sensory disabilities, who have been marginalized because of their disability, are enrolled in this
Facility after they are identified from the community through Eye and ENT camps or with the help of networks and Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHV). They are then referred to
the Hospital for a thorough investigation. Those children with sensory disabilities, who cannot be
cured through surgical and other treatment are sent in for rehabilitation based on their needs.
They spend from three to nine months, in some cases, at the Enabling Center under the
supervision of Rehabilitation professionals. They are trained in activities of daily living, motor skills, concept development, social, behavioral, communication skills, basics of braille and sign
language based on an individual plan chalked out for them. They are also provided with free
boarding, tuition, clothes and meals. It is not just the children, but their family members,
caretakers, school headmasters and resource teachers of schools are given training on how to
take care of these children at home or in schools. At the end of their training, following an
internal and external evaluation, they graduate and CHEERS helps them to get enrolled in pre-
primary schools with a recommendation from the Department of Education. This has aided in
removing at least one of the many forms of marginalization Besides these children are now able
to enjoy their right to education, become productive citizens and improve the quality of their own
lives as well as that of their family.