2015 wrapped up as a phenomenal year for us at Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan (MBCN). Our students excelled in sports, creative arts and other expressive fields. They won awards & medals and gave us another reason to continue with our endeavours. We even extended our social media presence through our parent organisation, The Ponty Chadha Foundation. Through many awareness drives, we disseminated our vision of ‘a differently-abled friendly world’ on larger scale. As we are set to welcome the New Year with full vigour, we cherish our past with equal enthusiasm. Let us look back at 2015 and find out how we became the ‘waveriders of change.’

 1.The Abled Prodigies

This year, the students at MBCN, our special school for differently-abled, proved their mettle in both creativity and athletics. Our intellectually impaired and multiply-challenged children like Shrey Kadian and Zeenat Ara were recently recognized as the Special Achievers of 2015. As Shrey made our country proud at the Special Olympics World Games 2015 by winning gold in softball, Zeenat was endearing in her autobiography, ‘The Real Fighter’. Shrey along with Rajan Jha and Praveen Nailwal brought laurels to India as they won gold and bronze medals at 2015 Special Olympics. Here, we would like to give a special mention of Karthik Verma who is the youngest Kung-Fu coach in India at present and an aspiring Shifu Master. These abled-prodigies are definitely our inspiration to continue the good work we are into.

 2.Workshop Products Go Online

This was another achievement we have had in 2015. We have expanded our market reach to a larger world with our new website. Our venture into e-commerce was remarkable with our vocational workshop products being put up for online sale. With this, we aspire to make the virtual world admire the talents of our special children and empower their way to financial independence. You can buy our eco-friendly handmade products here.

 3.Free Check-Up and Workshops

 This year, we collaborated with Tara Sansthan and organised a free camp for people with cataract and hearing issues and offered them treatment along with medical aids. To update teachers with the challenges of low-vision students and assess their functional vision, we even organised a ‘Special Teacher Workshop’. Through our ‘Sibling Workshop’, we tried to bring these differently-abled kids closer to their families. The motive behind this workshop was to make the families aware of their special needs and help them adapt accordingly.

4.Writing Success Tales

 Our hard work paid-off with success stories, such as of Vidhi, who could hardly stand without support when she joined our school. She responded to the rehabilitation treatments that brought considerable positive changes in her life. Here, we cite another instance of Vikas Midha, a man who overcame Cerebellar Ataxia to become a sales representative within a year at the MBCN Kiosk in the Centre Stage Mall, Noida.

5.IDPwD Inclusion Awareness

 Our oath to dismiss disability and focus on the special abilities of our fellows led us to celebrate International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) with great excitement. Our campaign, #IDPwDwithPCF echoed the same when our children went all around the capital on December 3^rd, 2015 to raise awareness around their rights at various malls, corporate houses and schools. They urged people to dismiss disability and focus on their talents and abilities.

With all such activities, 2015 was indeed a promising year for our school of special children. In 2016, we look forward to continue being the waveriders of change in the lives of our students, parents and teachers alike. Happy New Year!