Mentoring Program

Cross the Hurdles’ Mentoring Program

A Mentoring Program for People with Disabilities,under the aegis of Cross the Hurdles stands for “vision, voice and vocation - building a relationship”.

What is Mentoring?

Mentoring is a practice that has been recognized for centuries as being a fairly simple and effective way to help young people develop knowledge, skills, motivation, and confidence. Young people with disabilities have a great deal to gain from relationships with mentors who have the ability to guide them. Even the parents who have children with disabilities sometimes need to look up to a person who has raised a child with disability and has managed to make his/her bringing up an exemplary one or who has been successful in making the child with disability an independent and an educated individual who could live a life of dignity after the parents are gone. When a young person with disability is matched with an adult with a disability who has experience with navigating social and physical barriers, and who is a proud to identify as a member of the disability community, there is opportunity for a strong connection between the mentor and mentee. But we would also try to match a mentor without a disability to a young person with a disability provides an opportunity for each to learn from the other, to forge alliances outside of the community, and to broaden disability awareness.

Who is a Mentor?

Mentors are in a way role models and muses, through their life long personal experiences, presence and wisdom, can train the others that how being a person with disability can be an asset, a source of resilience and creativity that must not be denied nor overcome, but rather celebrated. A mentor is someone more skilled or experienced, who offers advice, support, and guidance to facilitate the learning and development of an individual. It should be taken as that “mentors try to unite the head and the heart”; “share knowledge and wisdom and draw out the possibilities;” or “someone who can offer advice on issues besides academic matters.”

Who is a Mentee?

A mentee is a person who wants to learn. A mentee with disability wants to learn how to cope up with the adverse conditions. A mentee with disability is a kind of student who needs to absorb the mentor’s knowledge, experience and has the ambition and desire to know what to do with this knowledge. A mentee with disability needs to practice and demonstrate what has been learned with a positive attitude. Mentee is the "gauge" to measure how interactive the connection between the mentor and mentee will be. This means that the mentee decides upon the amount of help and guidance he/she needs. Mentee should take the initiative to ask for help or advice and to tackle more challenging assignments.

Our Mentoring Program

It has many different forms. It can occur both one-on-one and in small groups, with various combinations of mentor/mentee matches. Mentoring can take place through personal meetings, E-mail exchanges, telephone conversations, letters, or any other form of correspondence.

Potential outcomes and benefits

Potential benefits of this program:

• Disability pride
• Improved self-advocacy skills
• Knowledge of disability rights
• Increased independent living skills
• Improved motivation and self-esteem
• Involvement in community and extracurricular activities
• Healthier relationships with family, friends, teachers and others
• Interest in having a job/career and the knowledge of how to do so
• Interest in continuing education and the knowledge of how to do so

Mentoring Program for the Females with Disabilities

The first phase of this program starts for Women with Disabilities on 8th March 2013 to mark the International Day of Women.

Women with disabilities remain invisible in our society. They need direct contact with other women with disabilities who are working in jobs or who are actively participating in family life or taking their rightful place in the community. It is through their presence and wisdom that other women with disabilities can be an asset, a source of resilience and creativity. For females who come from less than ideal circumstances, mentoring can be a critical ingredient towards positive educational and career growth outcomes.

There is dearth of role models, mentors and muses for the women with disabilities particularly for those who are living in small towns and far flung areas. With this program of ours women with disabilities would have access to a range of successful women with and with disabilities, who could provide support and inspiration in a variety of ways.

Our Mentors for Females with Disabilities

Mentors for females with disabilities or their care givers

• Abha Khetarpal

Masters in English, Economics and Counseling & Psychotherapy, President Cross the Hurdles

• Anita Sharma

BBA, MBA(HR), Entrepreneurship Educator Course certified from IIM Bangalore, NEN and Stanford University,UGC- NET (Management) and Pursuing Fellow Program in Management (PhD) from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship.

• Namitha Kumar

Pursuing PhD from National Institute of Advanced Studies

• Rajni Gupta

M.Com, MBA(Finance) CAIIB and Diploma in Cooperative Management. Presently working as Senior Manager with Punjab State Cooperative Bank at Chandigarh

• Reeta Namdev

Lecturer in Hindi, Delhi University

• Poonam Singhal

Housewife

Who can join

Write to us at crossthehurdles@gmail.com or abha.khetarpal@gmail.com if you to be a mentor or a mentee.