Assisted Living for Autistic Persons (ALAP) was founded in 2018 with the sole purpose of addressing the “What After Us?” question, which haunts every parent of a special need child! Autism is a developmental disorder which affects 1 in 250 on an average all over the world, although the figure varies from country to country. It is currently the biggest challenge that the world is facing, however, due to lack of awareness by the masses and the governments, no one is aware of the impact it’s having on the people and their families affected by it.
Autism is not a “visible” condition since a person affected by it doesn’t have any physical deformity, however it impairs the ability to communicate and interact, which limits their social interaction resulting in lifelong dependency on their caregivers.
Lack of social support isolates the parent and the child from the mainstream as inclusive education environment and options of vocational avenues are still very limited in our country. What with the cost of various therapies and the burden of lifelong support, it becomes very daunting for any parent, whether coming from a middle-income group or from an economically weaker background, to fend for his child for the entire life span. The parent is constantly worried about the support system that would be required when they are no longer there to look after their child.
The institutional living is no longer an option. India has signed and ratified a path breaking treaty called UNCRPD (United Nations Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities)which represents the voices of people with disabilities. Which means that legal and social capacity of every such persons would need to be optimized. And hence living and working within the mainstream society in equal capacity must become a norm. However, the options are still limited and the population of children with autism reaching adulthood is on a rise and there is a huge gap in terms of support systems in case of a “What after us” scenario.
ALAP was conceptualized with the objective to fill this gap, as the founders are also the parents of one such adult person with Autism. Project ALAP commenced operations from an apartment in order to teach their child to learn to live with as much independence as possible. Today we are providing this facility to eight such families whose children come for various programs, like 24/7 support plan, learning ADL: Activity of daily living in the home environment, develop soft skills for work spaces, spending weekends or few days away from their parents, providing the much-needed relief to their own primary caregivers (mothers), gain confidence and to step out into the mainstream with minimal assistance.
Our aim and objective is to reach out to as many families and help them setup similar support homes, train the caregivers, as well as open up cluster homes in other cities as well, replicating the philosophy of ALAP.
To realize this dream, we need full support from the community and patronage of individuals who believe in our vision.
