Sense International India (Sense India)
Sense International India, commonly known as Sense India, is an Ahmedabad-based not-for-profit and the only national-level organisation in India dedicated exclusively to people with deafblindness and multiple disabilities. It has been working since 1997, reaching 84,000+ individuals across 25+ states. It does not run one large institution; instead it works through a network of partner NGOs across the country, providing technical support, training, and direct services to children and adults who are deafblind.
Headquarters: Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Deafblindness is a combined vision and hearing impairment. It is not simply the sum of being blind and being deaf. Around 95% of what people learn about the world comes through sight and hearing. When both are significantly impaired, communication, mobility, and access to information become extremely difficult in ways that require entirely different intervention methods from those used for single sensory disabilities. Deafblindness is considered one of the most isolating disabilities. In India, it remains largely invisible within both policy and service delivery.
What Sense India does
Sense India works across the full life course, from newborn screening through to adult livelihoods. Its work falls into five service areas:
- Early intervention and identification: Screening babies and young children for sensory deficits to enable timely intervention. Early identification is critical because sensory deficits quickly lead to delays across multiple developmental areas. Sense India conducts baby screening camps and supports early intervention for children with deafblindness and multi-sensory impairment.
- Educational intervention: Developing individual education plans based on functional and clinical assessments for each child. This includes placement in special schools, support for inclusion in mainstream classrooms, and developing communication systems suited to each child's sensory profile.
- Inclusion: Supporting children with deafblindness to participate in mainstream school settings alongside non-disabled peers, with appropriate teaching support and accessible learning materials.
- Vocational training and income generation: Supporting adults with deafblindness to develop practical skills and earn an income. Economic independence is a key goal, and Sense India works with adults to identify suitable livelihood options, train them, and support them in running small enterprises or getting employed.
- Mental health: A newer service area built around SAMWED, a culturally sensitive mental well-being assessment tool developed specifically for people with deafblindness. Trained special educators administer the tool to screen for emotional, behavioural, social, cognitive, and physical concerns. This is the only structured mental health screening framework specifically designed for the deafblind population in India.
Training and capacity building
A large part of Sense India's work is building the skills of others: special educators, parents, caregivers, mainstream teachers, medical and paramedical professionals, and government officials. Sense India runs workshops, national webinars, and an online course on deafblindness. It also offers a certificate program through its web-based learning platform. The rationale is straightforward: the number of people with deafblindness far exceeds what Sense India can reach directly. Multiplying trained professionals and informed caregivers across the country is how the organisation extends its impact.
Alongside its service and training work, Sense India has built and maintains four national networks:
- Abhi-Prerna: a national network of 860+ educators working with people with deafblindness.
- Prayaas: a national network of 1,500+ families of persons with deafblindness, providing peer support at local, regional, and national levels.
- Udaan: a national network of 255+ adults with deafblindness themselves.
- Bandhan: a newer network of siblings of persons with deafblindness, launched in December 2025, currently with 192 members.
These networks are not symbolic. They provide structured peer support, advocacy platforms, and information channels to communities that are otherwise isolated.
Sense India works in one of the most specialised and underserved areas of disability in India. Roles here are typically in special education, rehabilitation, training and capacity building, program coordination, outreach, communications, and research. People with backgrounds in special education, disability studies, or psychology will find the work relevant. The organisation also actively trains non-specialists, so people who want to build expertise in deafblindness from a lower base will find a structured learning environment.
