Pratush Khora is 15 years old and lives in Parjasuka village in Dasmantpur block of Koraput district. He lives with his parents, brothers and sisters. He has Cerebral Palsy and learning difficulties which restricts his movement and means he must be cared for by his elder sister.

When Ekta first became aware of Pratush, six years ago, he could only lie on a bed in the family home. His mother worked as a daily labourer to earn the family living as his father did not work and stayed at home all day. Pratushs sister, Bijita, then had to stay at home to look after her brother.

The CBR worker started physiotherapy with Pratush doing exercises such as assisted standing, walking and kneeling. The CBR worker trained his elder sister on these physiotherapy techniques and she was able to continue the regime without the help of the CBR worker.

Ekta also made a standing frame and parallel bar from local resources for Pratush to use. The aids helped Pratush with his physiotherapy. Once the physiotherapy techniques had been
shared Ekta began to concentrate on getting Pratush a disability certificate. Once this certificate was obtained it would make it possible to access government schemes set up to help people with disabilities (PWDs) and their families.

Linkages have now been made enabling Pratush access to a pension scheme of R200 a month. His mother has been given a role from the Income Generation Programme to run a kerosene
dealership. She receives kerosene canisters from the Panchayat headquarters and distributes them throughout the Panchayat. Every month, a part of the money that she makes from this has to be put into a separate bank account for Pratush.

Pratushs sister who cares for him is a member of a Self Help Group and this also gives the family some financial stability.

Although the physiotherapy work Ekta had done with Pratush enabled him to move better he was still confined to his house. He wished to move about the village and so through his disability
certificate he was viable for provision of a wheel chair from the District Disability Rehabilitation Centre (DDRC). He has had the wheelchair for four months now and loves to be pushed around the village by some of the local children. The fact that he is being seen more around the village also makes him a visible part of the community.

In the future Ekta will continue to work with Pratush through visits from the CBR worker who will check that physiotherapy techniques are being performed and look for further linkages that can be made.