Plowns’ campaign celebrating ‘being different’ with Inclusive India Initiative

Ohh, it was so fun playing with you
The laughter and joy was new,
The thirst to play more only grew,
I took one more step to play, and I knew,
It was in my imagination that this friendship brew,
I watched you making friends from my balcony view.
We shared a glance; you rue looking at my disfigured face
And from my mind, the thoughts of playing with you blew.

Let’s get the facts right. We are already half way through 2017, but the foundation of our society is based on the uncivilised era, where Untouchables is still a thing. In the past, it was blatant and blunt, and I think that was still better compared to the current subdued and subtle reaction we give to disabled children.

As per Census 2011, in India, out of the 121 Cr population, about 2.68 Cr persons are ‘disabled’ which is 2.21% of the total population. Many mothers don’t want their child to play with disabled children. They would shun away even the thought of their child playing with a kid who has, for instance, a hearing disability. Society has been creating different institutions, organisations for “normal children” and “differently-abled children.” And we have been adopting the norm.

It has been there from the start, but that doesn’t mean that we will still feed that concept. Being the mother of a two-year-old who has just started going to nursery, it is important that I, as a parent, teach him the value of equality and inclusiveness. It is time to bring the change, and that will happen only when the people with intellectual and development disabilities, their families, civil society organisations and state government connect. And Plowns is doing such an excellent job at it, that I want to share it here.

Plowns provides a platform for all kinds of kids, who can come together and showcase their talent. In association with government’s initiative, ‘Inclusive India’, which aims to include differently-abled persons in mainstream education, employment and community opportunities, many kids participated in Plowns Caption Contest.

I loved all of them, but these are my favourites:

 

Plowns will be running many such campaigns for Inclusive India initiative for which they will actually have contests every month. For you to be able to participate in those contest, you will have to download the Plowns App!