National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped established in the year 1984 at Manovikasnagar, Secunderabad (AP) is an Autonomous Body under the administrative control of Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India and thus the institute is fast approaching towards its silver jubilee to celebrate its dedicated services to persons with mental retardation in the national interest.
NIMH has three regional centers located at New Delhi, Kolkata, & Mumbai, NIMH Model Special Education Center located at New Delhi. The institute endeavors to excel in building capacities to empower persons with mental retardation. Since the quality of life of every person with mental retardation is equal to other citizens in the country, in that they live independently to the maximum extent possible and through constant professional endeavors, National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped empowers the persons with mental retardation to access the state of the art rehabilitation intervention viz., educational, therapeutic, vocational, employment, leisure and social activities, sports, cultural programmes and full participation. The objectives for which NIMH works are listed as under:-
Objectives
- Human Resources Development
- Research and Development
- Development of models of care and rehabilitation.
- Documentation and dissemination.
- Consultancy services to voluntary organizations
- Community Based Rehabilitation
- Extension and Outreach programmes
To achieve optimum results, the institute has developed and introduced innovative structured training courses like Early Intervention, Rehabilitation Psychology, Special Education and Disability Rehabilitation at Masters level. The training programmes are offered on gradual scale from certificate - diploma - undergraduate - graduate - post - graduate -Masters levels. Presently, the Institute conducts 5 Certificate Courses, 4 Diploma Courses (DSE(MR), DVR, DECSE, DCBR). Further, 2 Graduate courses (BRT & B.Ed Spl.Ed(MR)), 1 Post-graduate Diploma course (PGDEI) and 2 Master courses (M.Ed Spl.Ed & MDRA) and 2 M.Phil (Special Education and Rehabilitation Psychology) level courses in affiliation with different universities.
The research policy of the institute is to continuously update the research need matrix that basically covers (a) the life-cycle needs of the persons with mental retardation (b) the holistic development of the persons with mental retardation including therapeutic interventional needs, family support, resource support, capacity building needs, and (c) public policy and enabling society. The documentation and dissemination are important activities of the Institute which include (a) procurement of books, journals, and documents (b) publication of quarterly NIMH newsletter and bimonthly Mentard Bulletin.
The Institute conducts national level seminars in mental retardation in partnership with leading voluntary organizations, parent associations. Special employees national meet at NIMH, National meet of parent organizations and National level Workshops. In order to rehabilitate the persons with mental retardation in the community, the services should be rendered at the grass root level itself. The service to be provided at theses centers includes identification, screening, assessment, delivery of services, training of local resource persons and supply of training material to the needy persons.