Sofia in expanding its work with marginalised communities has launched a focused intervention “Project Mauqa” for the inclusion and development of young people and adults with disabilities (14 years and above) since June 2022 with two cross-disability professionals on board. Persons with disabilities face multiple marginalising factors including disability, gender, age, caste, class, region, religion and migration. When they engage with their environment, which is not fully inclusive they face barriers (attitudinal, structural and communicational) leading to exclusion, discrimination, invisiblisation and infantilization. Recongising that they are a community who need to be included in all facets of life, Sofia has initiated this work.

Sofia’s belief in economic empowerment is the motivating factor in choosing to work on the aspect of livelihoods and meaningful occupation for persons with disabilities. In order to do this, a holistic life cycle approach has been adopted, wherein due weightage is given not only to the person with disability but also to the support system which is most often the immediate family. Taking an individualised approach addressing both the individual’s impairment and the societal barriers, an effort is made to develop and support the potential of the person by providing opportunities for participation in all spheres of life such as citizenship, livelihood, leisure, education and relationships. The intervention also provides reasonable accommodations, wherever possible. Building economic capacity for people with disabilities is a very crucial aspect leading to inclusion, equality, acceptance, self-worth and dignity. Most often having a person with disability in the family adds to costs – in the absence of government schemes and policies or their poor implementation, the person’s caregiving needs fall on family members, reducing the earning capacity of the family as a whole. With an inaccessible health and rehabilitation system, costs related to reducing the impact of the impairment are very high