Nadavayal (Wayanad): A group of bedridden people from across the Wayanad district has launched a business venture to give its members a new lifeline. The collective of spinal cord compression patients is a brave attempt to find modest means of livelihood for the people whose careers have been cut short by accidents.
The 22 members of the Spinal Care Wayanad have started making articles such as umbrellas and paper pens. The entrepreneurs have a point to make. They only make articles that are environment-friendly. Plastic gets a strict no in their scheme of things.
Confined to their sickbed or wheelchair, they learned to make the articles with the help of Handicrops, a company set up for supporting differently abled craftsmen. Some of the products are very imaginative. The paper pens contain seeds that germinate once the pen are thrown off to the ground.
The collective was formed on a realization that the nominal welfare pensions promised by the government was not enough to support the patients and their families. They get ample support from their families to get together for training and other purposes. The collective includes three women.
The group, led by Thomas Ambalathara, is planning to reach out to all of the 300 spinal cord compression patients in Wayanad. Narayanan Vazhavatta, Mohanan and Jithin are some of the other active members.
Read more: Latest in Society
