Some years ago I visited Nav Prabuthi Trust (NPT), an Indian organization training and employing men and women with autism. It was an amazing visit and I have the sweetest memory of one of the staff (several are mothers of young people with autism) being gently pushed out the door by her son who knew it was time for her to go home. She wanted to stay late to meet us and so each time he sent her on her way she went out the gate and then quietly sneaked back in. He did it several times but she knew that he would not be able to deal with her explanation that today she needed to stay late.
That same young man loves to be involved in block printing but is not precise enough to place the blocks so another young man whose autism manifests as precision, placed the blocks whilst his friend/colleague bashed down hard to make sure the design fixed to the fabric.
FAQS
When I visited NPT I also met a young man pasting paper bags in a slightly wild and frantic manner at a high rate of knots. Elsewhere was someone making strange keening noises.
More FAQS
April is Autism Awareness month and we are sharing some basic facts, together with pictures from Nav Prabuthi Trust and some of the lovely work that they do which we have been exporting around the world.
By combining the facts with the people and the products we hope you will garner a fresh view of autism and will want to buy what they make.
We are really delighted that NPT have been block printing fabrics for MESH for several years which we get stitched into products in a leprosy community near Delhi. This year we have exported to Germany hundreds of tea towels that were printed in NPT.
Earlier we exported to USA heat pads made with their brightly coloured printed fabrics .
And we have in our shop in Uday Park, Delhi their block printed bags and tea towels.
Buy products made by people with autism and support their efforts to earn a living.
