Like any other mother, Manjir Gupta worries about the future of her son, especially his career. But Gupta's situation is a little different from that of most other parents. Her son is autistic. Gupta and a number of parents who are part of Protection of the Rights of Differently Abled Children (PORDAC), an organisation that works primarily with intellectually-disabled children, however, have decided to do something to give their children better vocational opportunities. Children associated with the organisation have already taken various computer classes in collaboration with NIIT.     

"As parents of differently-abled children, it is our life-long desire to see our children lead meaningful and dignified lives. Our vision is to create a state-of-the-art vocational centre for our children where they can apply all the knowledge that they will take with them from the computer centre they have been learning at so far," Gupta, who is the president of PORDAC, said.

Under the plan, the organisation plans to establish a computer centre with residential facilities where over 100 children from across the country can pursue computers as a vocational course. The organisation is also looking at contracts with corporates where work can be outsourced to the children. 

According to Gupta, many children who are part of the organisation are very good at cooking and baking. "It is something that we see in many autistic children," she said.

PORDAC has also proposed to set up a bakery cum teaching unit that can employ autistic individuals who have completed their training can make cookies, cakes and muffins to be marketed to the local dealer.

The organisation is, however, having a hard time putting the plan into action.

"Getting a land grant to set up the computer centre is very important but no authority has seemed very enthusiastic so far. Funding, too, is a problem at the moment," Gupta said.