Growing up autistic (being and / or a family member) can be quite challenging with the current societal norms and functioning ideology. Other than the privileged few and those with extra ordinary coping skills, many families of adults with autism face high physical, mental and emotional stress. This leads to a cascading consequence of societal isolation, followed by adult Autistic abandonment to shrug off the burden. And this is not how things should be. Time and time again Bhumika Foundation has proved each autistic adult is capable of earning money, making a living and settling for a fulfilling life with minimum support.

Dr. Vishal Ganar, a prominent rehabilitation psychologist and present Founder & Director of Bhumika Foundation explains, “First the society needs to understand that adults autism eventually going to get better once we strategically train them to become independent.”

Dr. Vishal who has over two decades of experience in improving autistic lives, further extrapolated, by saying that, Indian society today is unaware of autism which happens to be the biggest challenge. Not having sufficient information lead to ignorance, myth, superstition, unwanted societal understanding leaving social stigma around to be dealt with. As a spectrum disorder, a adult with autism can be borderline autistic, moderate or critical and each autism case is

unique. Proper planning and assessment are essential for an autistic adults to learn their way and develop their life skills.

Bhumika Foundation, is one of the first residential training centres to take a progressive effort in reprogramming lives of the autistic ones. It provides a humble home to help autistic adults and teaches life skills to make them independent. And the efforts did pay off.

Today, Bhumika foundation has been recognized by many for its good services in autistic total quality rehabilitation. It has been awarded by the Government of Maharashtra for its excellence, and collected a few more accolades from Rotary and others for its vocational training and business development expertise. However, the speciality lies in customized autistic training which sets to be a class apart.

Individualized Training Programs
Unlike special day schools for autism, trainers and therapist at Bhumika serve as full-time responders to the children’s needs. As no two autism cases are the same, Bhumika swears on a detailed case study followed by assessments to learn the individual need for both physiological and psychological well-being. The assessments continue for a month. On the basis of collective evidence, observations and assessments (both cognitive and social) help to effectively plan a training regime or an Individualized training program (ITP). ITP is backed by the Total Quality Rehabilitation Model, a quantitative parameter to track progress in each autistic adult under observation. This undergoes a report review every three months to ensure that everything is going as planned. Followed by a reassessment plan to focus on the next set of goals.

Dr. Vishal added, “Bhumika Foundation is a small organization with 16 surveillance cameras on clinical premises. It helps us to keep a close watch on the child’s behavior throughout the day which helps us to take a better lead-in strategizing the treatment.”

“Care the Child and Share the knowledge” is the motto of Bhumika. To date, it has helped around 45 autistic adults to move back to the mainstream. Those who were frowned upon by others have started up their own small-scale business, successfully running shops and are engaged in activities like a commoner, after passing out from Bhumika’s residential training centre. Today they are self-dependent individuals who have earned their own existence in this society.

“The future is bright for any individual with Autism, if trained properly and strategically every individual with autism can become independent and can earn money, manage businesses and live with minimum support”, concludes Dr. Vishal Ganar.