A thousand dreams to build India's first state-of-the-art campus for disabled children and their families

There are over 200 million disabled people in India, of which about 65 million are children. But where are they all? How often do we see a child with cerebral palsy at a mainstream school? An adult with Down Syndrome on a bus? An autistic woman in the workplace? Close to never. Because disabled children and adults are systematically discriminated against. Schools aren’t equipped to accommodate them. Public spaces are inaccessible. Employers turn them away. They are taunted, bullied and ignored. While the Rights of People with Disabilities Act, 2016, ensures equal rights and prohibits discrimination against disabled people, their mobility, access to education, employment, healthcare, and opportunities for political and economic empowerment are routinely stymied. When such a huge population is marginalized, the under-developed human capital, loss of productivity and the knock-on effects for their families and communities hit the entire country.

The Latika Roy Foundation (LRF), commended by UNESCO, Dasra, the Government of India, CNN-IBN and our many peers in the field, has worked for nearly 30 years out of rented premises. These have been built to house families, not hundreds of disabled children. Our kids deserve better. We’re now ready to construct our own purpose-built building in the heart of Dehradun. The first of its kind in India, it will be built to universal accessibility standards. We will have, for the first time, specialized equipment and playgrounds, customized lighting, wide doorways and ramps up to the roof, among many other state-of-the-art features. 

The total cost of the proposed building is Rs 25 crore. Our design partner is Pradeep Sachdeva Design Associates, one of India’s leading architectural firms with an extensive portfolio of projects and deep expertise in designing public spaces; pro-bono project management will be provided by Cushman & Wakefield, a global leader in real estate services with a presence in over 60 countries. 

We already have over 10 crores from companies and philanthropists who recognize the importance of our work. Our #1000Dreams fundraiser is for individuals who understand the power of collective action: we’re looking for 1,000 leaders who share our grand vision to contribute Rs 1,00,000 each - their combined donations will finance an entire floor. 

Our proposed building will be much more than a building – it will stand tall and proud as a symbol of what’s possible when disabled people are part of the plan. It’s time for India to embrace inclusion, time for disabled people to take the lead, and time for disability to be on the national agenda. 

By gifting one lakh either individually or as part of a group, donors will take their place among other visionaries who share a bold and world-changing dream: inclusion for everyone, and progress for all.