Assam:
In Assam, despite government policies and awareness, mainstream schools continue to stay away from even welcoming the idea of inclusion of specially abled children in their classrooms.
28-year-old Sona was born with multiple disabilities. One half of her face is paralysed, she's hearing impaired and supports herself with just one kidney.
With the help of her mother, who privately learnt lip reading, Sona was not just able to attend regular school but excelled in her studies. She graduated with a first class in Sociology.
Sona now teaches sign language in a school for the physically challenged. Her colleague Mary too graduated from a mainstream college but it was never easy.
"You get pushed by others. I am 28 years old and very tired of waiting for the government to give a friendly environment to the disabled," said Mary, President of the Association for Physically Challenged
Renowned institutions like St Edmund's have separate schools for the disabled within the premises but inclusion within the main school is still not visible.
Carmo Noronah, once principal of mainstream schools like St Columbus in Delhi has spent the last sixteen years working only with cross disabilities. He says, "if change of attitude comes at the management and at the head level it can work wonders. Each of us has the right to learn differently."
Most specially abled children struggle to gain acceptance in mainstream schools and will continue to do so, till the time schools change their mindset towards children with special needs.