Sriram Yadav : Disabled Students Mental Health

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Title: Sriram Yadav : Disabled Students Mental Health
extracted text: 2022-23
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Community Health Learning Programme

P. SRIRAM YADAV

A Report on the Community Health Learning Experience

School of Public Health Equity and Action
(SOPHEA)

Society for Community Health Awareness Research and Action
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.NO

TITLE

PAGE NO

01

Acknowledgement

03

02

Part A: CHLP Learning Report

04-14

03

Part B: CHLP Community Based Health Action
Reflection Project report

15-28

04

Photographs

29

05

Reerences

30

06

Annexures

31-34

2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to
my mentor Karthikeyan K, who guided me and who have been a strong
constant support throughout my Journey from the beginning to till date. His
expertise in the Disability area and enthusiasm in the research have been of
great value to me.
I would like to thank all my facilitators and fellows who made my learning
journey fruitful. I would like to thank my Project team member G. Shirisha
for her support and contribution to the Project. I would like to thank my
stake holders i.e. Chairman (Empowered Committee for Differently abled
persons University of Hyderabad), Dean (Students Welfare University of
Hyderabad), Psychological counsellors University of Hyderabad. I would
like to thank students who have participated in the Project and made it
successful.
Last but not least I would like thank my colleagues, friends and family
members who have been the pillars of support throughout my CHLP
fellowship journey. A big thank you to all of them!

3

PART- A
COMMUNITY HEALTH LEARNING PROGRAMME
JOURNEY

4

INTRODUCTION:
To shortly introduce myself, I am P. Sriram Yadav pursuing Ph.D. in Public
health under the supervision of Dr. Ajitha kata from the School of Medical
Sciences, University of Hyderabad. Currently I’m working on my PhD
thesis topic titled Profiling Disability among Diabetic Elderly population of
Telangana, India.
A Farmer’s son from a rural village to a Ph.D. research scholar, I’m from a
rural village of Telangana where Illiteracy is high, basic sanitation levels are
low, Quality of education is scarce, and there is only one school in a village
and only one Teacher for all the classes. I have done my schooling In a
Telugu medium Government School till my 10th standard. During my
school days, I was inspired by various social reformers and their emphasis
towards the right to education and women empowerment. My Father
recognized my skills and passion towards education, He took a step forward
to afford me a quality education and he joined me in a private English
medium college. A happy little boy who was roaming in the village enjoying
life suddenly his life turned miserable after joining in an English medium
school. He faced many difficulties and criticism throughout in
understanding language, coping up with the classes, staying away from
family. But honestly, this was the best phase of my Life that turned my
weakness into strength. I have done my Masters in University of Hyderabad
which has diverse culture of Students from various backgrounds this time
period has given me the best opportunity and brought out the best version
in me. I had a strong passion to empower people from rural areas and make
them have a good access to basic facilities like Drinking water, Good meal
a day Education for children. When I was sharing my thoughts with my
friends one of my friend recommended me we should have a basics of
community health and we have a learning fellowship program in sochara
they teach us various aspects of community and they does a lot of work in
the community based on various community health models. Soon after that
conversation I looked up sochara on Google it gave me clarity about what
is CHLP program what are we going to learn from it. I have read fellowship
journey shared by fellows on the website. I felt I’m at the right place to
learn. Here I’m writing my fellowship Report with lots of gratitude.

5

Disability, Rural development and Health care have been my area of
Interests. Due to Poor sanitation and hygiene I have seen my own People
struggling and Suffering with Infectious diseases and it taught me
importance of basic sanitation and Hygiene in the community how
important it is to educate people and make them aware. COVID 19 is the
best example which taught us Community plays a key role in Preventing
diseases and various other aspects like COVID 19 vaccination, Following
COVID appropriate behavior etc. Various internships during master’s
period have given me insights about common man’s problems and how
important social determinants play a key role in health. Working in world
health organization during Immunization Programs has given me rich
experience and community house to house visits has given me a better idea
of people perceptions and problems. I had a strong intuition to always try
and find out something new or a solution to the existing problems in Health
care and it has led me to pursue my Ph.D. in Public health.
Childhood experience and learnings from each stage of my life mainly
seeing my own people struggling has led me forward to study hard and
giveback to society. I really wanted to be a torchbearer for encouraging
quality education and affordable quality health care in rural areas. CHLP
has accelerated my learning journey by bounds and has rekindled my
interests in various topics.

6

WHY DID I JOIN THE FELLOWSHIP?
I wanted to join the Community health learning program of Sochara because
it gives a deep insight about community health and to understand and assess
health realities and to know more about COVID 19 and post COVID 19 and
Indian public health. This program would help me explore the social
paradigm of community and public health based on community needs and
to understand ground level problems faced by the community. I would
consider this opportunity to build my career in public health and gain
Research experience. I’m willing to learn more about community health and
Research methodology and to know more about Disability and Rural health,
Nutrition and looking forward to explore other areas of public health.
Over all, I felt that the community health learning program from Sochara
would be extremely helpful through my further journey and meeting and
seeking guidance from the renowned mentors from sochara would be very
helpful for my research journey. This fellowship program would give me
knowledge about research and build a strong foundation in public health
during community projects and gives me an opportunity and additional
experience to work. I wanted to join this fellowship because I wanted to give
my time to serve the society and learn new skills and get hands-on
experience dealing with projects mainly to learn new things. 9 months
Mentorship and constant learnings are the most interesting aspects of as a
Public health scholar I would love to imbibe the quality and respond to the
Needy immediately. My future goal would be working with community and
Public health system. It could be an excellent opportunity to learn new
things and meet people of various backgrounds and progress forward.

7

I had vague ideas on how health care system ought to be such as health care
means both preventive & curative aspects going hand in hand, health care
has to be demystified, medicalization of health should stop, appropriate
technology was the answer not the mindless introduction of new technology,
health care must be a service not a commodity, privatization & capitalist led
globalization were responsible for the current crisis in health care, Public
financing & control of health care was the key to answering this crisis & reorientation towards society. But to put it in short, I had all the ingredients to
make me a health activist, but the only key link that was missing was a sense
of direction on how to go about it.
I considered it as a great opportunity to learn more about the various
challenges, factors affecting the growth and development in this sector. I
perceived it as a chance to understand in depths the knowledge and various
collaborative areas of interest of community health and its applications in
daily life. As a student, I considered this as a fellowship which could also
solve many doubts and could give me a complete picture of the various
topics under community health.

8

WHAT WERE MY LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND WERE THEY
MET?
My area of interest:









Disability
Palliative care
Geriatrics
Non communicable diseases
Communicable diseases
Rural health
Indian health care system
Nutrition

My learning objectives are:
 To know about the Indian public health care system
 To know more about social determinants of health care in Indian public
health care system
 To strengthen the concepts of community health
 To learn and understand the multidimensional concepts of health
 To know about research methodology and about various public health
projects in Indian health care.

9

My CHLP journey enlightened to a variety of health-related issues. My
learning goals were met, and I gained a multifaceted perspective on the
Indian health care system. Every module what we have been taught is very
uniquely and systematically designed.
The illustrative examples have been very helpful and critical in explaining
the concepts and breaking the monotony of the theory.
My areas of interest were Disability, Geriatric health, Non-communicable
diseases, rural health and Nutrition. All my interests and objectives were
met with both the practical applications and theoretical learning. It was a
good portal for understanding the ground reality and the learning
encourages me to initiate my peers to come forward and join this fellowship.
Going to the grass root level to understand the field aspects is important as
this fellowship has rightly granted me throughout the learning period in the
form of assignments and community action reflection Project. All the key
takeaway points learnt from module have helped me in my research work
when working with marginalized communities.

10

MODULE LEARNING:
Every module has a key message to take away it was user friendly explained
in a simple language focused on Diverse concepts. Axioms of community
health, community health Approach were very new concepts to me which
gave a clear picture of the community health. Modules that interested me
more were Comprehensive health care, Palliative care, Nutrition, Social
determinants of health, Biomedical waste management, mental health.
Palliative care module learning was extremely helpful for me my research
work was on working with elderly people during my work palliative care
module learning was very helpful now I could talk about palliative care
educate them about it and importance of palliative care for the needy. It
taught me importance of end life care and addressing patient emotional and
spiritual concerns, and those of the caregivers.
My learning from Social determinants of health module played a key role.
How social determinants of health poverty education and many other
determinants played a key role in health care access utilization in the
community. Community health approach module opened up new horizons
and created a rich experience in the CHLP learning program. Many modules
gave me a concept of health as a holistic concept like family structure,
culture, attitude socioeconomic status were equally important. My prior
knowledge during mph have helped me a lot in various modules and gave
me a better clarity on various modules. Work life and balance with CHLP
was easier in the starting as days went it was really tough to balance out
with research work and CHLP fellowship but I could manage it with the
help of LMS. The best part is even we miss live session all the live sessions
were recorded and uploaded in the LMS. LMS was very helpful for me
during my free times and I could go through all the materials and additional
videos provided so that I’m on Pace.

11

As I’m a PhD Scholar working with marginalized communities and elderly
project experience was very helpful it helped me gaining hands on
experience. Although our learning was through modules community health
action project filled the gap of missing factor of community experience.
Best Part of CHLP was encouraging attitude being empathetic during hard
times and they encourage us to cop-up with modules at individual pace.
Some days I was very hesitant to talk due to introvert behaviour and
language barrier. As days passed by now I’m able to ask my doubts get it
clarified. Project management, Proposal writing and Fund raising modules
will be extremely helpful in my research career it taught me a simplistic art
of how beautifully to write a proposal with key focus.

MENTORSHIP PROCESS:
I am extremely fortunate to be working with Karthik Sir as my mentor. He
described disability to me and shared his extensive community experience.
I have an experience in research projects but Sir taught me about community
action project and community engagement and community felt needs. We
gain a sense of the real world and a better understanding of how things work
in practice through experience. I think that experience, helped me a lot.
I was able to complete the job thanks to all of the suggestions he provided.
One trait I picked up from my mentor Karthik sir is that he welcomes all
viewpoints and approaches them with patience. My main takeaway from the
CHLP learning program is that if we put what we have learned about the
community into practice, even in a small town, we can see significant
changes in the health and welfare of the community and we will be taking a
step closer to our shared goal of health for all. Because improving the health
of a community and an individual is the ultimate goal of all of this learning.

12

PROJECT LEARNING AND EXPERIENCE

At the outset as I think and begin to recollect my experience throughout the
journey, I see myself filled with gratitude for having been through this
fellowship. It has helped me to grow as a better person both personally and
professionally. It has been a lot of learning through each module step by
step.
I feel lucky to be among the students who have been enrolled for this
fellowship. Module by module the picture kept getting clearer through the
journey. Interconnected topics were placed in a systematic manner to enable
more focused and conceptual learning. I see myself finding it hard to put in
a nut shell all the learning as an indicator of the immense depths through the
vast topics that we have been exposed to through the fellowship.
.
Hearing other student or fellow doubts, the facilitators explaining the
relevant topics related to the topics granted us an integrated learning on the
whole. It was a great benefit in terms of the knowledge, time and resources
put into utility through the journey. Additional learning material and video
lectures have really help me a lot in my Professional career and even in the
research projects. CHLP journey taught me how to balance between studies
and work life.

13

TAKE AWAY FROM CHLP AND LOOKING AHEAD -WHERE DO
I GO FROM HERE?
My CHLP experience widened my perspective to a variety of health-related
issues. My learning goals were achieved, and I now have a comprehensive
understanding of the Indian healthcare system. Each module that we have
completed has been carefully and distinctively designed. There is a takeaway
message in each and every module. The first few modules have provided me
with a wide overview of community health and set strong conceptual
foundations for that field. The best aspect of the social determinants of health
module is the SEPCE analysis, which is expertly demonstrated with examples
from real life.
I am a much better person now than I was before this nine-month fellowship,
both professionally and personally. The fact that all the companions and
facilitators were so amiable and treated everyone like friends was one of the
best unique aspects of Sochara. I'm grateful for the chance to interact and learn
with individuals from different backgrounds.
Another distinguishing feature of Sochara is that they encourage fellows to
participate and speak in their native language. If a fellow finds it difficult to
express themselves in English, they are encouraged to speak in their mother
tongue or whatever language they are most comfortable with. My learning goal
for the CHLP programme was to gain a better understanding of health in order
to do deeper and more meaningful work.
As a Ph.D. student, I can already begin to see the impact and the applications
being put into use in projects and in real life. I will definitely put all of the
learning and takeaway into use as I further my journey and take up more
projects. This has definitely been a good chance to prove my mettle. As I
receive more opportunities and projects in the field of community health and
its related areas I humbly hope all of the knowledge and learning fructifies and
we as a community see the better outcomes of this whole comprehensive
fellowship in the form of better health as rightly stated by the WHO. Lastly I
would like to once again be thankful to my facilitators, mentors and peers who
have all made this a wholesome journey that has been so impactful.

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PART- B
CHLP COMMUNITY BASED HEALTH ACTION
REFLECTION PROJECT

15

TITLE:
Mental health and well-being of the students with disabilities: Barriers to
accessible and inclusive education at higher education level, Telangana

BACKGROUND:
The University of Hyderabad is the community we have selected, it is one
of the premier institutes in India. Here students from various different
backgrounds come here for Education and progress in life. Every year
students from various states in India are selected through a common
entrance exam conducted by the Indian government and are given admission
based on the Indian government reservation policy.
University of Hyderabad, a Central University established by an Act of
Parliament (1974), is a Unitary University situated at Gachibowli
Hyderabad. We do not have any Study Centres or branches or Campuses or
Affiliated Colleges elsewhere. UoH, one of the major institutions of higher
education in India is largely devoted to postgraduate studies and is widely
known for its excellence in research and for its distinguished faculty.
The University has built up a reputation for providing high quality academic
training, and has been recognized through a number of awards: PURSE,
given by the Prime Minister of India, a grading of A, which is the highest,
by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). The
University is counted among the top 100 in Asia in many of its academic
areas of study
The University of Hyderabad has adopted the policy of reservation as per
Government of India and UGC orders. Reservations are being provided to
the extent of 5% for PWD students in admission and hostel accommodation.

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Principle investigators: Sriram and Shirisha
Sriram is a PhD Public health scholar working on Disability and Shirisha is
a Mph Student from University of Hyderabad. We worked together as a
team both the members have equally contributed in the Project. Shirisha
worked on students with Visual impairments sriram worked on students
with Physical disabilities.

Target group of population: Students with disabilities.
According to the world health organization, Disability is part of being
human. Almost everyone will temporarily or permanently experience a
disability at some point in their life. Over 1 billion people – about 15% of
the global population – currently experience disability, and this number is
increasing1. Disability can harm the quality of life and is an important health
indicator that can have a heavy social impact with long-term
institutionalization and increased use of medical care. According to the third
edition of the survey by the NCPEDP 0.56 % of Disabled students studying
in higher education system to the total students8. The Persons with
Disabilities Act stressed equal access for higher education. Bal Swaasthya
karyakaram (RBSK), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Inclusive Education of
Children and Youth with Disabilities (IECYD), Inclusive Education of the
Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS) and Teacher Preparation in Special
Education (TEPSE) are highlighted as significant steps taken by the country
to ensure maximum opportunity for persons with disability. However, many
of these programmes focus on early identification, intervention and school
care and do not open the doors to higher education. University Grants
Commission (UGC) through a scheme of Higher Education for Persons with
Special Needs (HEPSN) brought a new beginning in the field of higher
education for people with disabilities with the salient objective as equal
opportunity offices at all universities which will offer disability support
services.

17

However, the implementation of programmes and schemes was not highly
successful in India, and hence students with disability (SwD) entering into
the higher education campuses were faced with multiple, insurmountable
difficulties. Reports of various problems such as course content, trained
staff facilities, accessible environment, social stigma, negative attitudes,
resources, educational policy, legislations, schemes, assistive technology
and devices as well as the examination and evaluation process affecting
SwD in India entering higher education
Government of India has launched various schemes and Legislations for
Disabled people for their welfare and Development, but many disabled
people lack adequate knowledge about the existing government schemes
and Rights of Disabled people. This project plan supports the
implementation of measures that are designed to meet the rights of persons
with disabilities, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities, in particular Articles 9 (Accessibility), 11 (Situations of
risk and humanitarian emergencies), 12 (Equal recognition before the law),
19 (Living independently and being included in the community), 20
(Personal mobility), 25 (Health), 26 (Habilitation and rehabilitation), 28
(Adequate standard of living and social protection), 31 (Statistics and data
collection), 32 (International cooperation) and 33 (National implementation
and monitoring). It also supports Articles 4 (General obligations), 5
(Equality and non-discrimination), 6 (Women with disabilities), 7 (Children
with disabilities) and 21 (Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to
information).
Disability can harm the quality of life and is an important health indicator
that can have a heavy social impact with long-term institutionalization and
increased use of medical care. According to the third edition of the survey
by the NCPEDP 0.56 % of Disabled students studying in higher educational
system to the total students.
People with disabilities are at higher risk of mental health issues as
compared to their non-disabled counterparts. According to a study done in
2018, around 32.9% of adults with disabilities experience frequent mental
distress (Anxiety, Depression and Stress). The frequency is almost 5 times
more as compared to adults without disabilities.

18

Understanding the link between disability and mental health is important for
University psychologists and guidance counsellors, faculty, and special
education personnel who are in a position to provide targeted opportunities
for social and emotional learning and to ameliorate the potential for
marginalisation and isolation. It related to mental health in students with
disabilities, with a focus on understanding potential pathways between
disability and mental health difficulties and examining the evidence for
effective universal and targeted interventions. There is need for mental
health promotion in Higher education to incorporate targeted approaches for
at-risk students within the context of universal, whole-university
approaches, and in particular to consider the mental health needs of students
with disabilities.
University students are a special group of people that are enduring a critical
transitory period in which they are going from adolescence to adulthood and
can be one of the most stressful times in a person’s life. A review of
psychological distress among disabled students found a high prevalence of
depression and anxiety, with levels of psychological distress consistently
higher than in the students without disability. It is important to identify the
needs of disabled students, which not only affect their health but also their
academic achievements at different points of time in their study period

Rationale of the project:
Disability is also a human rights issue because adults, adolescents and
children with disability experience stigmatization, discrimination and
inequalities; they are subject to multiple violations of their rights including
their dignity, for instance through acts of violence, abuse, prejudice and
disrespect because of their disability, and they are denied autonomy.
Disability is a development priority because of its higher prevalence in
lower-income countries and because disability and poverty reinforce and
perpetuate one another. Poverty increases the likelihood of impairments
through malnutrition, poor health care, and dangerous living, working and
travelling conditions.

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Disability may lead to a lower standard of living and poverty through lack
of access to education and employment, and through increased expenditure
related to disability
Most of the students in higher education suffer from mental health problems.
Moreover, if different kinds of new barriers are created between them, the
mental condition of these students. If there is so much mental inconsistency
among the students with disability and the students without disabilities will
more face depression, anxiety and stress. So if this incompatibility occurs
between both able and disabled students, there must be a difference in their
mental state. But what is the difference and what is the significance of it?
There are less research papers in higher education to clarify this idea. There
was few evidence investigating the prevalence, frequency and severity
levels of depression, anxiety and stress among university students.
Therefore, an attempt was made to investigate the mental health problems
in this sample. There is a need of change in the attitude of the society
towards the disabled, as well as the disabled people also need to change their
own attitude towards themselves. There is a need of much more research in
this phenomenon to explore it in a better way

Objective of the intervention/ community health action initiative:
The main aim of this study is to promote mental health and wellbeing among
students with disabilities and to live happily in disability friendly campus.
The scope of the project is a world in which all persons with disabilities and
their families live in dignity, with equal rights and opportunities, and are
able to achieve their full potential.
The overall goal is to contribute to achieving optimal health, functioning,
well-being and human rights for all persons with disabilities.

20

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT:
1. To Enhance Disabled friendly Accessibility and Inclusion in the Higher
education level
2. To Educate and create Awareness on Existing Government schemes and
Facilities provided to Students with disabilities
3. To find out the rate of prevalence of depression, stress, anxiety among
the students at higher educational level
4. To sensitise the students without disabilities, highlight the need for
physical, informational and service accessibility and adoption of
inclusive attitude, policies and practices.

STAKEHOLDERS OF THE PROJECT:
1. University of Hyderabad Administration
2. University of Hyderabad Empowered Committee for Differently abled
persons
3. University of Hyderabad Dean Students Welfare
4. University of Hyderabad Psychological counselors (Male and Female)

21

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROCESS:
We had 4 community visits to the community
1st visit:
This visit we made an Effort to Build Rapport with the community we
introduced ourselves we explained the purpose of the visit and what we are
doing what is the motto behind the Project .In the first meeting with a group
of 20 People we made a casual discussion about since how long they were
in campus what is their academic background what are the major changes
observed in the campus before COVID 19 and after COVID 19 Pros and
cons.
2nd visit:
This visit we were familiar to them they were bit friendly with us so we
interacted with them about how was their experience in campus. Do they
face any difficulties in classes, Hostels or Food courts or any other places in
the campus .our campus is closed for 2 years due to COVID 19 we asked
questions regarding how was campus before COVID 19 and after COVID
19. This visit we asked about what are community felt needs we made a list
of them

22

Before 3rd and 4 visit we approached various departments in university
to seek Permission at all levels.

1ST LEVEL-Empowered Committee for Differently abled persons
University of Hyderabad

2ND LEVEL-Dean Students Welfare
University of Hyderabad

3rd Level-Psychological counselors

University of Hyderabad

4th Level- IEC Approval from
University of Hyderabad

5th level -Students
with Disabilities

23

There is an official committee in university of Hyderabad for Differently
abled Persons called ECDAP (Empowered committee for Differently abled
Persons. This committee has chairman and governing body which works for
the welfare of Students with Disabilities. This committee includes
professors from various departments altogether they work for a motto of
welfare of students with Disabilities.
We approached the chairman of the committee to discuss about the Project.
He was very positive about the project and he told it will definitely benefit
to the students as we will get data about our positives and negatives we will
work on our negative aspects and we will strengthen it .He gave us few
instructions and suggestions to go further .His suggestions were to obtain
informed consent and follow ethical guidelines and to maintain Privacy
confidentiality of each participant .He told us to Meet the ECDAP
receptionist she will give us a list of students with Disabilities so that it will
help us .He told to meet Dean students welfare to obtain Permission.
Meeting with Dean of students Welfare:
We met dean of student welfare we told him EDCAP Chairman sir has
forwarded us to you .We explained in-brief about the Project .We had a
lengthy conversation he told us very interesting things about university
achievements towards the welfare of Students with Disabilities and he told
us UoH awarded for improving the cause of accessibility, for the differently
abled National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People
(NCPEDP) has awarded the University of Hyderabad the NCPEDP
emphasis universal design awards 2016 in category C (Companies and
Organizations) along with organizations such as Indigo Airlines, the
National Informatics Centre and SAP Labs, in recognition of the exemplary
work towards the cause of accessibility and thus ensuring a life of equality
and dignity for the differently abled. He encouraged us and Meeting ended
with a Positive note.

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Meeting the University Counsellors:
There are two counsellors in University of Hyderabad Psychological unit
who works and counsels students for the welfare. They take part in various
mental health and wellbeing activities in the University. We have briefed
them about the community health Action reflection project they will play a
key role in mental health objective of the project.
After taking all the Permissions Mentioned we went for the third and
four visits we interacted with students with Disabilities.
No of Students interviewed: 38
 Out of 38 Students 18 students were Students with Visual Impairments
 20 Students were with Physical Disabilities.
 In-depth interview and Focus group discussion are the Methods followed
to collect data about what are community felt needs.
 Focus group discussion has been done at the Final visit to Finalise
community Priorities.
 2 Focus group discussion one for the students with visually impairments
and one for the Students with Physical disabilities.

Students with visual Impairments Students with Physical Disabilities
Focus group Discussion:
Focus group Discussion:
No of Participants: 8
Moderator: Shirisha

No of Participants: 12
Moderator: Sriram

Notetaker: Sriram

Notetaker: Shirisha

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Results of focus group discussion : Everyone Participated expressed their
views in terms of academics, Hostel activities ,Health care Facilities ,Life
after covid 19, Access to Library ,Food courts, Social relations, Behaviour
and Attitude of their colleagues and other students with them. Finally Focus
group discussion ended with a note they except Empathy towards them not
Sympathy. This Focus group discussion has led us to frame objective about
sensitisation of students without disabilities to make them aware through
blind fold walk on world white cane day. Students with disabilities
expressed their views about Accessibility of services in the campus
we(Shirisha& Sriram) along with the other students we have listed out all
the commonly used areas like canteen ,library ,classrooms, food court
whether they are Disabled friendly or not ?Various students have
participated in it.

COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION:
 Sensitization to Students without Disabilities has been done through a
blindfold walk on world cane day to create awareness in the community.
 Process: Major Key role played in organising Blindfold walk was by
Dean Student’s welfare and ECDAP (Empowered committee for
Differently abled Persons) chairman and team.
 They have circulated poster to all the departments and made sure that
People are Aware about the Date, Time and Venue Prior information has
been given to all the students.
 Many students have participated there were Student volunteers who
came forward to help they helped in blindfolding and made sure that road
is free from vehicles.
 Almost 30 minutes there stopped vehicles and kept road free of moving
passengers.

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 Dean of Students welfare commenced it the walk went on soothingly
many students expressed their feelings how difficult it is to walk for a
few minutes with blindfolded they understood how their colleagues
would feel – it Really made my day when I heard their feelings and sense
of Awareness among them a small change in one person also would help
the Needy is the Major Lesson I have learnt.
 Soon after the Session All the Students and Professors who Participated
in the Walk gathered in the conference hall Dean of student’s welfare
have addressed the gathering he gave a small speech and shared his
views. The Session Ended
 Educating about various government schemes and facilities to students
by an expert with the help of dean student welfare association.
 Campus library reading room food courts hostels mess every place has
been monitored to assess whether all the areas which commonly used by
students are disability friendly or not a detail report has been written and
will be submitted to DSW (Dean Student’s welfare).
 Assessing mental health status among students with disability and
submitting it to university which helps many students access Counselling
services and talk to the needy when in need.

IMPACT OF THE COMMUNITY HEALTH ACTION:
 This project played a key role in addressing community needs it worked
as platform to express community needs
 Blind fold walk have created awareness to all the people in the
community.
 Session on Existing schemes and programs provided by the government
of India to PWD students had a major impact.
 University committee have positively responded once the detailed
report is submitted they will definitely work and address and Promote
Mental health and wellbeing among students.

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COMMUNITY-BASED ACTIVITIES
1. Organized a Blindfold walk
2. Create awareness and implement Disability friendly exercises
3. Conduct an awareness program with psychological counsellors on
mental health
4. Monitoring the university whether it is Disabled friendly or not along
with disabled students
5. Organizing a Seminar or workshop to awareness on career
opportunities and PWD fellowships
6. Conduct an awareness walk for an accessible and inclusive
environment

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PHOTOGRAPHS:

Awareness program conducted in university of Hyderabad to stdents

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REFERENCES:

1. https://www.who.int/health-topics/disability
2. WHO. World Health Organization
3. Fauzi, Muhammad Faris, et al. "Stress, anxiety and depression among a cohort
of health sciences undergraduate students: The prevalence and risk factors."
International journal of environmental research and public health 18.6 (2021):
3269.
4. Wahed, Wafaa Yousif Abdel, and Safaa Khamis Hassan. "Prevalence and
associated factors of stress, anxiety and depression among medical Fayoum
University students." Alexandria Journal of medicine 53.1 (2017): 77-84.
5. Mushtaq, Shahnawaz, and Deoshree Akhouri. "Self esteem, anxiety, depression
and stress among physically disabled people." The International Journal of
Indian Psychology 3.4 (2016): 125-132.
6. Tinklin, Teresa, Sheila Riddell, and Alastair Wilson. Disabled students in higher
education. Vol. 32. Centre for Educational Sociology, 2004.
7. McMillan, Julie M., and Jane M. Jarvis. "Mental health and students with
disabilities: A review of literature." Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in
Schools 23.2 (2013):
8. Biswas, Abhijit. "Assessment of Depression, Anxiety and Stress of the students:
A comparative study between disability and non-disability students at higher
education level."
9. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/disabled-students-countin-indianinstitutions-at-0-56-per-cent/articleshow/46808219.cms
10. Cree, Robyn A., et al. "Frequent mental distress among adults, by disability
status, disability type, and selected characteristics—United States, 2018."
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 69.36 (2020): 1238.

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ANNEXURES

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THANK YOU

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Media: P. SRIRAM YADAV.pdf

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