A Home of Her Own
Keystone Moldova English and Keystone Moldova Romanian
Keystone Human Services (KHS) is a non-profit organization that is a part of a global movement to provide support and expertise to people with disabilities.
Janaki Amma loves hosting, making chai, and doting on her daughter. She is a woman with cognitive disabilities, with a frame frail and a great sense of humor. As we sit down for tea, she wants us to see her new shoes and clothes that she has folded with great care. She insists we have tea and biscuits.
Life for Janaki Amma has not always been easy. Till recently, she and her daughter Komal lived at a government shelter home for women in Dehradun which houses abandoned and destitute women with mental and cognitive disabilities. More than 100 women, at any given time, live at the institution and their movement is severely restricted. There is no concept of privacy or agency for these women. As the State’s wards, they do not have the rights of an individual. They cannot make any decisions about their life, from what to eat and wear to where to live, with whom, and how. The women are referred to as either “inmates” or “children,” by officials, caretakers, and other staff. Most of these women have no families that want to take them back. They have no visitors, and very little interaction with the outside world.
A small group of committed change agents – the Rural India Supporting Trust along with The Hans Foundation and Keystone Human Services International – have worked to change this narrative. We believe that every individual, irrespective of their cognitive and mental status, should live within society as part of a community. We are committed to the idea that institutionalization of people with disabilities in closed off and heavily restrictive institutions must be challenged, and it must be changed. With a partnership with Government of Uttarakhand and Dehradun’s premier Lehman Hospital, two family-style homes have been leased that are embedded in a community, where eight women with developmental disabilities live, with one round the clock caretaker. In the last six months, we have witnessed the value of autonomy and decision-making, and the positive and therapeutic effect that has had on the women in these homes. We have seen first-hand the changes these women have undergone, and how their neighbors have also evolved to overcome their reservations about them. The community has started to look inward to question the stigma and the discomfort they have after only a few months of interaction with the women.
We dream of a world, where every individual makes her own decisions of her free will. Where every individual has capabilities of being part of a community. Where the shackles of institutionalization, the loneliness of abandonment, and the disregard for a person’s humanity are undone. Where everyone has a skill set to be a productive member of the society, with a sense of belonging to a family, to a home, to a community, and with a life of normalcy and autonomy. We believe that Community Lives is a small step and a giant leap toward this goal. We are very excited to see the journey these women embark upon, and what they make of their lives.