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Tuesday, March 4, 2008

National Seminar on the Adult needs of people with Mental Retardation

National Seminar on the Adult needs of people with Mental Retardation- 08- November 2008

Society for Child Development (SFCD), are a non-profit organization (established in 1992). SFCD aim to create a world of equal opportunities for people with disabilities. SFCD key projects involve providing mentally handicapped children with educational and training facilities that will assist them to acquire basic living and academic skills. In SFCD efforts to explore and address contemporary issues related to disability, SFCD also engage in research activities.

One of SFCD ongoing research projects is directed at addressing the domain of "Sexuality and Disability". It was motivated from the realization that there is a general reluctance on the part of the society to address sexual issues, especially with the mentally disabled. Formal research efforts to explore the specific nature of sexual issues in the mentally disabled have also been very limited. The efforts made have largely been in the domain of biological perspective and rarely in the context of the psychosocial issues.

Realizing that for decades, families of the mentally handicapped and professionals engaged in the area alike, have been mostly silent about the sexuality of the mentally disabled person, our Parent Support Network (a forum for parents established in 2004) has been conducting Focused Group Discussions and workshops aimed not only at exploring the emerging issues and concerns in this area but also aiming to derive ways to cope with and manage the issues.

Similar is the issue of Employment.

SFCD feel that academicians as well as professionals working in this area need to join hands to address these domains. In line with idea, SFCD are organizing a National Seminar on the adult needs of people with Mental Retardation on the 8th of November as an effort to look at the two main adult needs of the Mentally Disabled Sexuality and Employment.

This is the first call for an expression of interest in the Seminar and also submission of any work done in this area by researchers, academicians and professionals. SFCD would appreciate if you could share your experiences in the domain of "Sexuality and Disability" and/or Employment with us so that, together, SFCD can arrive at new understandings and solutions. The goal of SFCD seminar is to derive perspectives that can be of practical use to parents, vocational centers and special schools that are dealing with these people on an everyday basis. Please note that the papers presented at the seminar will only be those that are 'action-oriented' activities or research. The seminar is not planned as an 'academic' exercise.


IMPORTANT DATES:
30th March, 2008: Expression of interest, along with a brief about the nature of work to be presented.
15th May, 2008: Submission of Abstract
30th September: Submission of the final paper

Contact:
Dr Madhumita Puri, Executive Director, Society for Child Development.
Email: madhumita@disabilityindia.org

Lovepreen Kaur, Organizing Secretary, National Seminar on the Adult needs of people with mental retardation

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