Sense International India

Sense International India, also known as Sense India, was established in 1997 as the first and only non-governmental organisation to support the development of comprehensive services for people with deafblindness and multiple disabilities throughout India. Sense India works with local organisations to develop sustainable services for children and adults with deafblindness and collaborates with the government at centre and state levels. We have reached to provide needs-based services to around 80,000 children with deafblindness directly through 60 partner NGOs in 23 states of India, and through collaboration with the government’s national Samagra Shiksha - ‘inclusive education’ programme. With our effort, children with deafblindness and multiple disabilities have been identified and are being prepared to attend mainstream schools. We are also partnering with leading organisations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Malaysia to train educators and setup needs-based services for deafblind.

Sense India advocates for the recognition and realisation of rights of persons with deafblindness with the government and our biggest achievement has been recognition of ‘Deafblindness’ in the Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2016 and their rights are now protected. The inclusion of vaccination for Rubella under the Universal Immunization Programme is another significant achievement of our advocacy initiatives. We are a member of several Central Government and State level advisory groups. Sense India is accredited by the United Nations and enjoys consultative status on deafblindness.