Thirty years on, Akshaya Kshetram is home to 100 persons with intellectual disabilities

Akshaya Kshetram, a home for persons with intellectual disabilities near Tirumala, turns 30 and plans outreach activities and an awareness walk

Thirty years since it was set up, Akshaya Kshetram, a home for persons with intellectual disabilities, continues to serve the community near Tirumala.

Founded on October 2, 1996 by M. Ramaswamy and M. Varalakshmi, both octogenarians, it started as a daycare centre for children with intellectual disabilities who had been abandoned by their parents. Through the 1980s and 1990s, a growing number of parents were leaving such children at Tirumala.

The couple, who followed Gandhian principles and had launched Akshaya Kshetram as a home for abandoned women, later expanded its operations to include men and children with disabilities.

“We now run two residential ashrams at Durgasamudram and Renigunta, providing round-the-clock care to the residents, supported by 30 staff members,” said Lavanya Rao, its president and the daughter of the founders, who took over after her parents’ death.

“As we approach the 30th anniversary on October 2, we plan to take up a series of welfare and outreach activities, besides a 5 km awareness walk to tell the community about our work,” said its treasurer, Gopal Rao.

Beyond individual care, the home aims to reduce the stigma around intellectual disabilities in the community and persuade parents to accept their children’s condition, so that fewer children are abandoned, Ms. Rao said.