Ability Foundation is a cross-disability umbrella organisation, headquartered in Chennai, India. The Foundation sees society not as one divided into 'mainstream' and 'fringe'; but as a integrated whole, one where people with and without disabilities walk hand-in-hand, work shoulder-to-shoulder, are accepted as equal partners - as people first - with equitable rights for full participation in every aspect of life; where help comes out of respect, not pity. Put simply, the Foundation follows, a rights-based approach.
The Foundation firmly believes this can be realised. To do that is to go beyond mere theoretical aspiration. It is to have a visual goal, and a roadmap to reach it. It is to create an environment where awareness about the rights of disabled persons is absorbed like daily news - in the papers, on TV, through the Internet. It is to emphasise the fact, time and again, that persons with disabilities have the same rights, like everyone else, to realise their potential in a way that they choose to. The society must co-opt them in all spheres of activity.
What does Ability Foundation do on the ground? It puts into play a wide range of activities that include publishing, education, employment, employment related training, mass media, legislation and rights. In many ways it is a demand for people's attention; only, the Foundation's programmes and activities make these demands in a pleasant, acceptable, optimistic way so as to generate hope for the future.