Shree Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind

SRMAB’s Vision: “All people with disability will have the opportunity to fulfill their potential and live life with self-respect and dignity.”

Over the past 4 plus decades, Shree Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind services have reached over 16000 persons through the School (IBR) and Thirumurthy Rural Development Centre (IBR).

Institution Based Rehabilitation (IBR)

SRMAB offers special education to 200 plus children with visual impairment, with free lodging, boarding & medical care facilities. State syllabus education starting from pre-school to class 10th is adapted; with Braille as the medium of instruction.

Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR)

Vision statement: Every disabled person and people from vulnerable groups can claim their rights to self respect and dignity.

Community based rehabilitation (CBR) programs in semi-urban and rural areas in Karnataka. Covering 7 districts, and working with 16000 people in about 1800 villages.

Objectives:

• To improve functional abilities and avoid secondary deformities.
• To ensure every child and young adult with disability has access to main stream education.
• To support persons with disabilities and their family members to ensure economic well being and an improved quality of life.
• To increase level of community awareness about basic human rights and disability issues.
• To ensure inclusion and recognition of disabled people in mainstream community, private sector and government agencies.

Thirumurthy Rural Development Centre (TRDC)

Thirumurthy Rural Development Center is a unit of SRMAB, which was initiated in the year 1985 to provide free of cost service to adult person’s with visually impairment & other disabilities such as speech & Hearing, mentally challenged, physically challenged and others. The center provides two years agro-based training program which facilitates them to livelihood options with social integration.

Vocational training & Income Generation

An innovative approach in the late 70’s towards empowerment was an idea conceived – Vocational training or skill development along with education. This approach instills and builds up confidence in a person with vision impairment, to gain skills and be independent while being productive. With this idea the Academy started sustainable training and production activities in Manufacturing packaging & allied products.

Dairy farming

Horticulture, with an extensive Agro based training in its rural branch TRDC.
Packaging & allied products and Horticulture being a full time production venture has tie up with many a business house, who procure our products. The trainees, on completion of the training program, are assisted to suitable employment or self employment opportunities.

Horticulture

This is one of the vocational training facilities of the Academy, which follows a very simplistic approach in training the persons with disability, to acquire skills.
This would benefit the trainees towards employment or self-employment opportunities.

Dance

Bharatanatyam is a classical dance form originating from Tamil Nadu , a state in Southern India. This popular Tamil dance form called Bharatanatyam is a 20th century reconstruction of Cathir, the art of temple dancers. Cathir in turn, is derived from ancient dance forms. The word Bharata, some believe, signifies the author of the famous Sanskrit treatise on stagecraft, called NatyaShastra, and the word Bharatanatyam is sometimes given a folk etymology as follows: Bha for Bhava or abhinaya and expression, Ra for raga or melody, and Ta for tala or rhythm.

Dance and music as part of extra curricular activity was introduced in the year 1973. In the year 1982 we started teaching dances in classical style by touch and feel method for the first time to the composition of Bhagawan Ramana to the students of the Academy.

From the year 1983 to date our students have toured and performed in about 2000 shows in India and have toured UK, US & Italy.

Human Resource Development (HRD)

Rehabilitation of people with disabilities is an integral and progressive part of the development movement. This not being possible by a cluster of NGO’s, SRMAB identifying – the importance to reach out to a larger audience, Incited HRD courses to train the trainers in the field of education and CBR.

Courses offered: