Towards Integration And Inclusion

After me, who?’ This is a question that bedevils parents of children with disabilities.

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And it lay at the heart of ‘Trends and Challenges in Elder Care’, a seminar hosted by elder support service provider Integrated Eldercare Solutions (Care Finder) in association with Harmony-Celebrate Age, on 8 February in Chennai. An audience of about 150 people— representatives of NGOs, organisations for persons with disabilities (PWD) and concerned parents, healthcare organisations, senior citizens’ forums and associations, members of academia, HR managers, builders and architects—gathered to hear experts deliberate upon this and other issues relating to elder care.

“Be proactive, be prepared.” This message by K R Gangadharan, Chairman, Heritage Foundation, set the perfect tone to begin the proceedings. His inspiring inaugural address was delivered on his behalf by Harmony-Celebrate Age’s executive editor Arati Rajan Menon, followed by the welcome address by P S Srikumar, founder of Care Finder, and the keynote address on ‘Integrating Care to Living’ by Col Achal Sridharan, managing director of Covai Care, which has set new benchmarks in creating retirement communities and is making a pioneering effort in integrated care for silvers and their dependent children with disabilities in its projects. In fact, Covai Care, which also sponsored the event, has developed a publication titled Master Document for Persons with Disabilities (Integrated Community Framework for Senior Citizens with Dependent PwD), which was released at the event by T T Srinivasaraghavan, managing director, Sundaram Finance Ltd—the first recipient was R Desikan, managing director, Hydroline Industries.