A STUDY OF SOCIAL SUPPORT IN PHYSICALLY DISABLED STUDENTS IN AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF KANPUR

Abstract

Background- People with disabilities are the world’s largest minority, yet they are routinely excluded from most educational, economic and social opportunities. Persons with physical disabilities have to face problems not only because of their handicap but also due to non- addressal of their socio-emotional needs. Objective- 1) To study the bio-social characteristics of physically disabled students. 2) To study the profile of social support in   physically disabled students. Study design – Cross-sectional study. Study setting – Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology for Handicapped, U.P., Kanpur. Study subject- All the physically disabled diploma stream students present at the time of data collection were taken as study subjects. Data was collected by interview method using a predesigned & pretested Questionnaire. Results- Physically disabled students predominantly belonged to age-group 18-20 years (47.62%), Hindu religion (95.24%), OBC Caste (47.14%) and social class V (51.90%) as per modified BG Prasad social classification. 88.57% of families provide required support to their physically disabled children, while 27.14%, 20.48% & 14.29% parents avoid taking them to social gatherings, make undue interference & show discriminatory behaviour respectively.87.14% of students were well behaved by their siblings, 87.14% students can rely on their friends and about same percentage of normal children interact well with them. 90.95% of the students were treated by community satisfactorily. Majority of the students (>50%) accepted that family economy was affected adversely by their disability. Conclusion- In the present study, majority of the students were getting support from their parents, siblings, friends and community at large.