For G Balaji, who originally hails from Sivaganga District, shifting to Chennai would have been the last option, if not for his child with autism. Despite having a flourishing retail and wholesale family business, the available intervention programmes in the city made the shift inevitable. He says, “We found out he had ASD when he was two-and-a-half-years old. Initially, we enrolled him at a centre in Tiruchy, but later he needed more specialised help.” Eventually, Balaji and his family moved to Chennai, after much deliberation and now his son, who is 15, is undergoing intervention programme at The Lotus Foundation in Kottivakkam.

Today, his son is well settled in the environment offered by the centre, while Balaji has set up a new business in transportation in Chennai. However, after eight years in the metro, he says he still wishes to get back to his hometown due to the difference in the lifestyle. “My whole family of siblings and other relatives are there back in Sivagangai and ours is a family business. Sometimes, I wish I could just wrap up my business here and head home. But, the fact is that Chennai has been ideal for my son,” he says.

Like Balaji, Esakkiappan a native of Udangudi near Thoothukudi, too, was left with little option to seek treatment for his elder son after the latter was diagnosed with ASD at the age of two. Moving to Tirunelveli that was closer to his hometown, he sought early intervention treatment, but with little avail. After spending almost two years in Palayamkottai, it was time for more comprehensive treatment for his child. Later a shift to Mettur in Salem, too, yielded little benefit and it was in 2009 that Esakkiappan and his family saw a ray of hope when they sought occupational therapy at Vidyasagar in Chennai.

Now, his son, who is 12, is at Sankalp, a learning centre. Shifting his entire family including his parents to Chennai, Esakkiappan says that the shift hasn’t been an easier one for his family and him.

He says, “Chennai was not the first option that we had when we were first looking for an intervention programme. But, it is only here that we have been able to find a complete set of therapies for him.”  Nandini Santhanam, founder of The Lotus Foundation, says that in the last five years, she has seen several such migrations, especially by those who hail from the interior villages in the South.

“When you go to the districts the understanding of the skills is not very high though they are very close to the nature. But they feel that city holds a certain promise. I find that more of the migration happens from the interior villages than the middle towns, especially with people from the villages, where absolutely no services are available. In such people, there is a strong will to give their child a better future. They are more adventurous about moving to cities.”

Dr Vasudha Prakash, founder-director of V-Excel Educational Trust that has three centres in the city for children with special needs, says that going by the record of children enrolled at the centre, almost 50 families from various parts of Tamil Nadu and states like Maharashtra and West Bengal have moved to Chennai, in the last decade.

“I have had parents who originally are based in places like Tirunelveli, Madurai, Salem, Tirupur and Palani, even from Solapur in Maharashtra and parts of West Bengal. They would come here for remedial and one on one and they stay back here because things are not better back there,” she says.

To meet the growing requirements in districts today V-Excel has centres in Nasik, Solapur, Erode, Tirunelveli, while another centre is coming up in Tiruchy.

There is another aspect of the migration — one parent shifting to the city, while another stays back in the place of business interest. “We have had children whose parents have chosen to live in different cities,” says Nandini.

She points to examples of single parents who opt for a divorce as they find their spouse’s attitude and approach to ASD to be a hindrance in their child’s progress.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express /  Home> Cities> Chennai / by Janani Sampath / December 21st, 2013