NIMHANS, in association with the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, will organise a five-day national-level therapeutic and rehabilitative art workshop for persons with disabilities from October 10.
Persons with mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, neurological disorders and other multiple disabilities can participate in the workshop. The Departments of Psychiatric Social Work, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services and Mental Health Education at NIMHANS are jointly organising this workshop to showcase the paintings of persons with disabilities and also to reduce the stigma against them by highlighting their skills.
The artworks made during the workshop will be displayed and sold at the art exhibition on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 2022. The participants have to be physically present at the NIMHANS campus for the five-day workshop where art experts from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat will guide and train them for the same, said Aarti Jagannathan, Additional Professor of Psychiatric Social Work at NIMHANS.
This is the second national-level workshop being conducted at NIMHANS for persons with disabilities. The first one conducted in July 2022 had seen the participation of 25 persons with mental health and neurological disabilities.
“Apart from being therapeutic, any form of art can also act as a medium of employment. In this background, we approached the Centre’s Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for funding and supporting an art workshop and art exhibition for persons with mental health and neurological disabilities and have got their support,” Dr. Jagannathan said.
K.S. Meena, who heads the Department of Mental Health Education at NIMHANS, who is one of the co-organisers of this workshop, said, “When it is related to persons with disabilities, art can help in rebuilding social connections and strengthen existing support in communities.”
For details and queries those interested can email prspswevents@gmail.com or call: +91 8137890503.
