1.  Ranga Rao Memorial School for the Disabled Danielle Pelletier & Rana Sulieman

2.  NR Group  Founded by Sri Ranga Rao  Founded in 1948  Started off doing incense, electronics, fragrances, etc.  “Core Competencies”  Multi-core organization  NR Foundation: non-profit charitable trust of the NR Group

3.  NR Foundation  Non profit charitable trust of the NR Group  Emphasizes “Corporate Social Responsibility”  Education is for the betterment of society  Promote education through several different programs and scholarships  Project Prerepana: promotes schooling among children who are dropouts from regular school  Vocational Training for Women: empowerment of women from rural, tribal, and uneducated backgrounds  Project Unnati: Paired with the Cycle Scholarship Program to fund scholarships for children from different schools

4.  Ranga Rao Memorial School for the Disabled  Free residential school founded in 1988  For visually challenged girls from economically disadvantaged backgrounds  The aim of the school is to groom the visually impaired girls to be responsible for themselves and live confidently  Besides a basic curriculum, the girls are taught life-skills, music, dance, and basic crafts.  Mobility training is also a huge aspect of their curriculum.  Ultimate goal: influence these girls to pursue higher education in regular schools

5.  Disabilities in India The Persons With Disabilities Act (1995):  Equal opportunities  Protection of rights  Full participation All Indian Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH):  Utilization of intervention strategies  Working to increase momentum in the field of audiology and and speech pathology  Interesting perspective Mobility in Society:  Ultimate goal is to give the students equal opportunity and integrate them into the society  Physical and mental mobility, navigation through the workforce  Blindness does not inhibit ability

6.  Danielle’s Project Conversational English Goals:  Get the students to engage in conversation  Instill confidence in their speaking abilities  Expand vocabulary (specifically conversational phrases) Syllabus:  Songs  Games/activities  Engaging outside of the classroom  Classroom routine End Result: Prepared packet of vocabulary (in braille) Some methods worked better than others (different levels of understanding)

7.  Rana’s Project Health Assessments/Recommendations Goals:  Assess the health status of all students (nutrition, hygiene, sanitation)  Create a report of recommendations and suggestions tailored to the needs of the students/school End Result:  Individualized health reports for every student  Noting habits, pressing issues, height/weight, etc.  Final report for public health goals and personal recommendations Methods:  Interacting with the children  Observation was important to assess behaviors and habits  Touring all the facilities (dorms, bathrooms, kitchens) to make note of the most important issues

8.  Social Determinants of Health collaboration between health & education There are several social determinants of health, the most evident at this institution are education, economic status, and gender Trends:  Stigma attached to reproductive health  Menstruation  Sanitation  Different backgrounds account for different receptiveness to health & education  There was a lot of collaboration between the two projects  Units on health, nutrition, sanitation, and hygiene  Reinforcements for good, healthy habits

9.  Assumptions Pre-conceived assumptions about the experience/project  Around the same level of visual ability.  Similar foundations in the English language.  English language is universal (discounting the accent).  Visual disability would be a huge set-back in teaching  Similar health concerns as the United States.  No need to adjust for cultural differences in the classroom.

10.  Challenges/Obstacles Setbacks that needed to be overcome  The language barrier was more severe than expected.  Varying home environments  cause for the difference in backgrounds in English.  Initial lack of confidence, shyness.  Finding solutions to problems without compromising but keeping limited resources in mind.  Took time to combat insecurities in speaking.  Different levels of disability needed to be accounted.  Personal discomfort in disturbing the schedule, taking time from other teachers.

11.  Cultural Exchange Cross-cultural exchange of ideas/knowledge  Learning comes from both ends!  Braille  Kannada (kind of)  Indian food (coconut barfi)  Dance/music  Culture (individualism vs. communalism)  Family structure  Cross-cultural exchange of perspectives  Very accepting and eager to show culture  Outside of our immediate project we had many opportunities to experience Indian culture

12.  End Result Best moments

13.  End Result Best moments