All was well with 24-year-old S Vinay Kumar till the day he was diagnosed with incurable congenital glaucoma. Rough days began as Vinay started losing his vision every day and finally lost it completely in 2007. "I was diagnosed with the disease in 2004 and went completely blind by 2007. I was working with a private firm as customer service representative and was asked to work from home as I had developed a completely restricted mobility by then, due to the vision loss. It was a dark world outside," says Vinay.

Confined within four walls, Vinay was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, when he came across International Agency for Rehabilitation-India (IARI). "I had lost all hopes of leading a normal life. Then I stumbled upon this organization . It was like discovering life all over again. The organization provided a personal trainer, who trained me and helped me in getting my mobility back. Right from being independent in case of nature calls to handling dishes and interacting with the outside world, the training gave me back almost everything I had lost," says Vinay.

There are thousands like Vinay across the country, who have been benefited by the organisation's services.

Registered in February 1987 under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, the visionaries , who sketched the objectives of IAR-I , say that the organization was founded with the main aim of creating opportunities for people with disabilities so that they could be integrated into schools and colleges and gain independence.

"We wanted to come up with an organization that could provide different types of disability services under one roof. To enable people with disability to be financially strong to get into the mainstream," says R Anand, administrator, IAR-I .

"We are currently working with 60 villages and eight slums in and around Bangalore . We work under three guidelines: prevention, intervention and rehabilitation. Prevention is all about healthcare and preventing occurrence of disability. We organize a number of healthcare camps on annual basis. Moreover , in order to integrate physically-disabled children with normal children, we organize a summer camp every year. The camp incorporates 70 children and helps in building up their confidence," says Anand.

IAR-India thrives on funds from private organizations along with other associations. "We are associated with organizations like National Association for Blind (NAB), EnableIndia , National Association of Physically Disabled (APD), Modi Eye Hospital, Mahavir Jain Netralaya, along with some unregistered groups of volunteers. Apart from providing free of cost services to the needy, we also create Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to carry on our programmes at local levels ," said Anand.

Services for differently abled

Four eye-screening camps annually

Orthopaedic appliances measurement and distribution camp (provides calipers, walkers etc)

Hearing-aids distribution camp (Distributes 40 hearing aids annually in association with a German NGO, Saadhna)

Summer camps for disabled kids (trains around 70 kids every year)

Counselling and placement services

Conducts community awareness programmes

Provides financial help to children who study in private schools

26,000 benefit

IAR-I has helped around 26,000 physically disabled during its stint of 25 years

Funding

The organization depends on foreign contributors for 75% of its funds and local contributors for the rest of 25%. Contact - 9342814158.