India has a long history of battling diseases and for a long time life expectancy in India was dismally low. Maternal health indexes and child mortality rates have been one of the lowest, coming in lower than that of Saharan Africa. We plan to change all that by concentrating on maternal and child health. Our aim is to eradicate preventable diseases from India and to that purpose we have been conducting health camps and vaccination drives to prevent polio and measles among children.

We are active in the society helping people make wise choices that will help them lead healthy lives. India has an aging population and we work with self-help groups to provide palliative care and support to senior citizens. We make them aware of their rights and provide integrated old age services for senior citizens in rural and urban areas.

India is often the scene of conflict brought about by lack of acceptance and understanding. Insular attitudes have brought about discord and we try to change it by conducting street plays and holding meetings with village elders and other people who can influence attitudes in society.

A Giggles Welfare Organisation was established to offer services for children with impairments. Giggles means a smile, a smile makes one’s day; it brings us back to life, more so if it’s a child’s giggle. Our center has taken up the endeavor to bring back the lovely giggle back on the faces of our special children and their parents through our services at Giggles Rehabilitation Center. As a private agency we provide special education as well as therapies to these mentally and physically disabled children, our staff members have a variety of backgrounds (special education, counseling, early childhood development and psychology etc.). They are all certified (or in process of) with the Rehabilitation council of India.

Children are the face of tomorrow but child rights are neglected here. Children are not a pressure group, they do not vote and they live in the fringes with hardly any legislation meant solely for them. Our workers work in close cooperation with households to increase enrollment of children in schools. We provide uniforms and study materials. We try to prevent dropping out which is a chronic problem among children from the poorer sections.

Money is empowering. We realize that and we provide technical knowledge that how to set up small units for the technically qualified and help with marketing the product. Market surveys that we conduct help people find buyers for what they produce. Rickshaws, sewing machines, farm equipment all go to empower people and they are able to take control of their own lives.

No society can call itself emancipated until dignity and equal rights to women are ensured. There are many lacunae in this in India and we work with other pressure groups to change opinion. India has a patriarchal society and women’s rights have been on the back burner for long. Life for the destitute women is especially tough. We provide livelihood options and provide legal advice to those fighting for their rights.

The way forward to a meaningful life :

• Understand the scale and impact of disability in the country setting and recognize the diversity of the disabled children.
• Advocate and support the human rights model of disability rather than the charitable and medical approach.
• For the last 5 years, A Giggles Welfare Organisation has worked on the comprehensive rehabilitation of economically marginalized people with disabilities.
• Through grassroots rural and urban community programmes that include therapeutic services, mobility aids, integrated education, advocacy and livelihood training; A Giggles Welfare Organisation has been able to transform the lives of many persons with disability.
• With an estimated 70 million persons with disability in India, A Giggles Welfare Organisation is among organizations that are at the forefront of the urgent, nationwide movement to overcome the growing challenge to support, rehabilitate and include people with disability into mainstream economy and social life.