For Logu, an employee of Copper Chimney restaurant in Taramani, his job is more than a source of income. For him, the job means that he is almost normal.
“I dusted all the tables, arranged the chairs and even made pizza today,” he gushes, talking about his routine.
Logu’s new lease of life is the outcome of an endeavour by the Vocational Training Centre at The Spastic Society of Tamil Nadu. Aimed at making people with cerebral palsy, multiple disorders and other neuromuscular mobility impairment employable, the training course is looking to make them competitive. The centre has divided the training groups into two categories — high support and low support groups.
Among these divisions, training programmes are formulated to cater to the needs and the varying capacities of those undergoing the training.
With over 88 students receiving training, the low support group that is meant for open employment consists of 40 people. They are taught skills like cleaning, setting up tables, serving and other skills that are required for employment in the food and beverage industry. Under the high support category, various skills such as candle making, paper cup making and handcrafting paper bags are taught.
It was a shot in the arm for the centre, when SBI granted a loan for the project titled ‘able at the world of work’. The loan helped them secure the required infrastructure and employ adequate staff to impart training.
Vydeeswari , another student undergoing training, knows the procedure to make candles like the back of her hand.
Ask her how she made a beautiful set of green and orange candles that she held and she replies with a twinkle in her eye, “Pour the mixture into his mould and place the wick in the middle of it and your candle is ready.”
Ruth Parimala, a vocational trainer at the centre, proudly displays the bags made by her students and says, “We even get orders from people for tamboolams during weddings. Sometimes they are put on display and sale.”
Royal Bank of Scotland is one such organisation that comes forward to support the efforts and help them sell their products.
Copper Chimney restaurant, owned by Oriental Cuisines, is a community partner with the organisation and helps place trained students from the Spastic Society of Tamil Nadu.
L V Jayashree, director, Spastic Society of Tamil Nadu, says that the centre’s prime motive is to ensure that each of their students gets a chance to be financially independent. “But there cannot be a 100 per cent success in all endeavours. We too have have dropouts here and we are analysing the reasons for the same,” she says.
“They totally justify the objective of our institution,” she adds.
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