Till 1995 the city of Jaipur had only one institute working for the intellectually challenged. The children with multiple disabilities had no place to go to and were left without getting proper care and rehabilitation. The crying need for help to the children with special needs was palpable.
As a response, a group of concerned and committed persons decided to start a center for special education to provide an opportunity to the children with physical and intellectual challenges to help them discover themselves and develop their potential to the maximum of their ability, to provide them suitable education & vocation and to create awareness and sensitivity among the public towards the cause of disability.
This is how Disha – A Center for special education came into existence. 15th March 1995 witnessed the inaugural Pooja of the movement called Disha.
Disha started with 17 students having multiple disabilities led by a special educator along with 4 volunteers in a small two bedroom house with a basement. The movement grew by amazing leaps and bounds, thanks to the financial sustainability provided by the Khaitan family and the magnanimity of the public of Jaipur.
After about a year, the Disha foundation was registered. As the year 1995 progressed there was a surge for admissions and the number of students grew to 100 by the year 2000. As new techniques of rehabilitation were added, the growth in the number of students continued to rise. Our initial abode in Shyam Nagar became too congested and we shifted to Nirman Nagar in a much larger building. At this time EAST, a sister concern of Anokhi came in as a large financial donor, freeing the administrators of Disha from fund raising thus helping them to devote more of their time for rehabilitation of students and advocacy of the cause. Disha formed a group calling it “The Friends of Disha” (FOD). Till today the members of this group have stood by Disha extending their help whenever necessary.