Poona Blind Men's Association
Group of visually impaired students receiving technical training at an institute.

Touching Lives Through Support

PROJECT SPARSH SUPPORTED BY THE POONA BLIND MEN'S ASSOCIATION

95% of what we learn is through our eyes and ears. In conditions where a child has multiple disabilities, of deafblind, life can be challenging.

Deaf-blindness is a rare condition in which an individual has combined hearing and vision loss, thus limiting access to both auditory and visual information. Sparsh (meaning touch) is a unit of PBMA that works to rehabilitate deafblind children and adults. Aptly named Sparsh, as a sense of touch is central to communicating with them.

At PBMA, we work to rehabilitate deafblind children and adults. Depending on their ability, we teach them to be independent and active members of society.

A group of children and educators at the Sparsh project
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The disability of deaf-blindness presents unique challenges to families, teachers, and caregivers, who must make sure that the person who is deaf-blind has access to the world beyond the limited reach of his or her eyes, ears, and fingertips. The people in the environment of children or adults who are deaf-blind must seek to include them—moment-by-moment—in the flow of life and in the physical environments that surround them.

-Barbara Miles

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Our Vision

A world in which all children and adults with deafblindness and multiple disabilities can be active members of society.

Our Purpose

Our purpose is to provide access to counselling, services for deafblind and multiple disabilities persons, their families, caregivers and professionals so they can lead an independent life.

We provide the following services

  1. Medical
  2. Nutritional
  3. Physiotherapy
  4. Home visit
  5. Training of Parents to understand their children’s disability and assist them
  6. School-based service
  7. Center-based service

Student Enrollment Statistics from 2022 to 2024

Year-wise breakdown of total, centre-based, and home-based students for 2022 to 2024
Year 2022 2023 2024
Total Number of Students 39 50 48
Centre Based 30 39 34
Home Based 9 11 14

Staff Team List with Designations, Qualifications, and Experience

List of staff members with their designations, qualifications, years of experience, and photos.
Name Designation Qualification Years of Experience Photo
Deepti Srivastava Project Coordinator Diploma in Db, B.Ed HI 9 yrs Portrait of Deepti Srivastava
Chhaya Pathrut Special Educator MSW 9 yrs Portrait of Chhaya Pathrut
Hina Shaikh Physiotherapist MPT 8 yrs Portrait of Hina Shaikh
Pooja Kamble Special Educator MCA, B.Ed HI 6 yrs Portrait of Pooja Kamble
Kadu Pawar Special Educator Diploma in Db 5 yrs Portrait of Kadu Pawar
Parmeshwar Zombade Special Educator B.Ed HI 3 yrs Portrait of Parmeshwar Zombade
Nirmala Orpe Field Worker MSW 3 yrs Portrait of Nirmala Orpe
student receiving physiotherapy

Daily 8-10 students get physiotherapy at the centre. Students are showing improvement after receiving therapy. Many of them started sitting without support & walking independently with walker.

pincer grasp

Pincer grasp development activity to develop holding the small objects.

Prayer in tactile sign language

Prayer in tactile sign language

color identification

Colour Identification activity through a toy.

motor development

Fine Motor Development with the available materials at home like, vegetables, kneaded dough etc.

Shape Concept

Shape Concept to identify the objects through shapes & also develops exploration of different objects.

Colour Concept training

Colour Concept training to identify & memorise the objects through colours.

Music Therapy

Music Therapy to enhance localization of sound, concentration & language development.

Aman Jha

Aman Jha 16 years bold boy with multisensory impairment, sitting at his stall of cold drinks & Chinese during fun fair held in TTI of the PBMA.

Arush Bansode

Arush Bansode 5 years old boy with cerebral palsy, exploring a soft toy to learn to identify the objects through their texture, color & shapes with his educator Chaya Pathrut.

A student celebrating their birthday at SPARSH.

Birthday celebration of a student in SPARSH.

CBR worker Nirmala Orpe

CBR worker Nirmala Orpe explaining the project work in a house during her door to door survey.

Daksh Yadav

Daksh Yadav, an 8-year-old boy with VI & ADHD, learning to mold the clay in a required pattern with his educator Parmeshwar Zombade. This activity helps to develop cognition, thinking, tactile stimulation & imagination.

Dr. Pradnya Akkalkotkar

Dr. Pradnya Akkalkotkar M.D. AYU. DYA giving Vidhakarma therapy to the centre assistant Anita Chavan.

Ishwari Kamble

Ishwari Kamble 9 years old girl with deafblindness, receiving oral stimulation through a massage on her cheeks by her educator Kadu Pawar in home-based setup, helping in speech development.

Manushree Gumma

Manushree Gumma 10 years old girl with deafblindness, learning the concept of shapes & sizes with her educator Pooja Kamble.

Orthodontist Dr. Aniket Kugaonkar

Orthodontist Dr. Aniket Kugaonkar checking a student of SPARSH in a free dental camp organized in TTI on 6th January 2025.

Pari Kamble

Pari Kamble 13 years old girl with multisensory impairment, exploring a tree to learn different textures in natural environment with her educator Chaya Pathrut.

Samarth Chalwadi

Samarth Chalwadi 7 years old boy with multisensory impairment, learning to hold rings & counting to develop fine motor & cognitive skills.

Special Educator Pooja Kamble

Special Educator Pooja Kamble giving vision stimulation to Shahid to improve his visual field.

Varnit Pujari

Varnit Pujari 5 years old boy with one side paralysed & developmental delay, receiving physiotherapy by the therapist Dr. Hina Shaikh.

Ved Saoji

Ved Saoji 20 years old boy with VI, is learning to identify the currency with his educator Parmeshwar Zombade.

CBR worker Nirmala Orpe

Visit to Anganwadi by the CBR worker Nirmala Orpe.

Visit to An Anganwadi

Visit to An Anganwadi, hadaspar to spread information of our project in their area.

Visit to a Vocational Training centre

Visit to a Vocational Training centre “Deep-Grah”at Gokhale nagar to give information of our project.

Vedhan Chikitsa Therapy Details

Viddha Karma, also known as “Vedhan Chikitsa,” is a treatment involving puncturing or piercing certain points to reduce pain and reverse pathology mechanisms. Dr. Pradnya Akkalkotkar M.D.(AYU), DYA provides this therapy free of cost to our students. Many students have shown significant improvement, with a reduction in epileptic attacks. Currently, 20 students receive this therapy every Monday. Parents and staff members of TTI also benefit from it.

A therapist performing Vedhan Chikitsa on a student during a treatment session
Another Vedhan Chikitsa session showing students receiving the therapy

Monthly Ration Support for Students

Families of 25 students receive monthly ration support to ensure nutritional well-being for financially disadvantaged students. We sincerely thank Meena Desai Ma'am for her generous contribution.

Student receiving a ration kit as part of monthly nutritional support program
Another student holding a ration bag distributed under the support initiative
Ration support event photo with students and volunteers
SPARSH team posing with parents and children

SPARSH team with parents & children.

SPARSH Diwali party attended by more than 25 parents and children

Diwali party for SPARSH deafblind unit of The Poona Blind Men's Association.

SPARSH children celebrating Janmashtami dressed as Krishna

Janmashtami Festival celebrated by SPARSH Deafblind unit of The Poona Blind Men's Association. The children were dressed as Krishna and broke the Dahi Handi filled with chocolates.

SPARSH children celebrating Holi with vibrant colors
SPARSH children and parents enjoying Holi celebration

Celebration of Holi for SPARSH DEAFBLIND CENTRE – Parents and children

SPARSH team conducting awareness session at Merryland Pre-primary School
SPARSH team demonstrating how to assist visually impaired students
SPARSH team introducing Braille and tactile drawing at LEADS High School

Team SPARSH visited Merryland Pre-primary School & LEADS High School for a sensitization session on vision impairment. The session included a role play demonstrating mobility, helping a visually impaired friend, and an introduction to Braille and tactile drawing.

Children of SPARSH receiving Japanese encephalitis vaccine from local health center
Vaccination drive organized at SPARSH center by Ramtekdi Government Health Centre

Vaccination for Japanese encephalitis was provided free of cost to all children of SPARSH (age 1–15) and children of TTI staff by Ramtekdi Government Primary Health Care Center. The market cost of one vaccine is ₹5,000.

Expected Funding FY 2025–2026

All projects will continue.

₹1,88,00,000