Chennai: Thufail makes a whooshing sound as his hands arc through the air. Wearing a lopsided grin, he looks to the skies and indicates that will be his address for a few hours on Friday, “I’m going on a plane... a plane,” he stresses the last two words to ensure we get it right. All of his co-workers/classmates are just as thrilled at his child-like enthusiasm and smile just as broadly. Thufail, just like all the others at the centre, has grown up with special needs, but thanks to a special initiative — got to fly to Madurai and back.
In a major push for allowing children and adults with special needs to travel by air, SpiceJet flew 20 special kids and young adults to Madurai and back, along with their regular passengers on Friday. All of them were given the opportunity to take this joyride, courtesy V-Excel Educational Trust, a non-profit social organisation that works towards inclusion for people with special needs. The kids got to spend the day sightseeing in Madurai and were thrilled at the whole exercise.
The children were accompanied by five trained persons employed by the organisation to ensure that all went on well and no passengers were disturbed in the course of the hour-long flight. “We’ve taken them for overnight trips by train and done several other things, but air has been a frontier we hadn’t attempted till now,” says Dr Vasudha Prakash, founder and director of V-Excel.
08/02/14 New Indian Express
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
In a major push for allowing children and adults with special needs to travel by air, SpiceJet flew 20 special kids and young adults to Madurai and back, along with their regular passengers on Friday. All of them were given the opportunity to take this joyride, courtesy V-Excel Educational Trust, a non-profit social organisation that works towards inclusion for people with special needs. The kids got to spend the day sightseeing in Madurai and were thrilled at the whole exercise.
The children were accompanied by five trained persons employed by the organisation to ensure that all went on well and no passengers were disturbed in the course of the hour-long flight. “We’ve taken them for overnight trips by train and done several other things, but air has been a frontier we hadn’t attempted till now,” says Dr Vasudha Prakash, founder and director of V-Excel.
08/02/14 New Indian Express
