This is a home with a difference. Here, special women lead a special life, doing things that are normally not expected of them. They learn to be self-reliant even though not all understand the meaning of the term in its entirety. Here, their life takes on a meaning that they are not even aware of. Here they are safe and secure, a concept of which they are not aware. The women are special because they are 'adult children,' women who have grown in years but not in mind. 
Swayamkrushi, meaning self help, is a Hyderabad based organisation that runs special homes for special people, women who are differently abled. Founded by Manjulaa Kalyan in 1991, this organisation provides a home and integrates these people into the mainstream society. It has come up with several novel methods of finding acceptance, and a livelihood, meagre it might well be, for women who suffer the disadvantage of being mentally under-aged.
Manjulaa (63) is a special educator who studied in USA and worked in Delhi and Chennai for several years among mentally challenged people before opting to go independent. She is particularly concerned with women who have lost their mothers as they have more problems. Firstly, the father is not very capable in understanding the needs of a young girl who has grown up physically and but not mentally and consequently, experiences the natural needs which makes them vulnerable. Secondly, such girls are prone to exploitation and/or abuse at the hands of both strangers and relatives, as well. Hence they need security, both emotional and physical. "I saw a mother's agony and worry over her child's future once she passed away. Not that siblings won't care for them but they have a life of their own," she says. 
From this concern came the idea of providing a special home for the female "adult-children". In 1991, when the International decade of the Girl Child, was launched Manjulaa decided to focus on a different girl child. She began with four adult children.
Manjulaa began her dream project in 1991 with four girls. Today, there are 162 'boarders'. Any person who is admitted here undergoes a comprehensive assessment by a team of special educators, physio-therapists, speech therapists, and vocational trainers. They undergo a training programme for two to three years during which they are coached in hygiene, safety, basic money management, housework, dealing with problems in day-to-day life, and judgement skills.
Integration
Manjulaa has also taken in some men given the lack of similar facilities for men and also because she was pressurised by close friends and their friends who were bowled over by her concept. This unique model of rehabilitation evolved from Swayamkrushi's own experiences. It is a simple model. A house (called group home) consisting of two and a half bedrooms is taken on rent in a residential locality and eight such special individuals along with two caretakers are housed here. Every morning they travel in a Swayamkrushi-owned bus to their campus where they spend the day training in an activity. They return to their group home at the end of the day. Doesn't it sound like the activity of any normal working person or a student? That is indeed the idea, that the special people should have a normal day.
They are trained in a wide variety of jobs depending on the level of their ability. The job training includes cardboard packaging, cutting, cleaning, packing vegetables and food commodities, screen-printing of New Year and visiting cards, bookbinding, and so on.  After completion of their training period here, a placement officer assists them in securing employment commensurate with their skills and proficiency acquired.
Employment
Several employers are more than willing to try out these adult children. For instance, the State Bank of India is extremely supportive as is the Food World chain of food stores. "There are jobs everywhere which my girls can do but there are not many takers," says Manjula. "We show what our children can do and the corporate offices get back to us. I must say though people are not insensitive. Especially our youngsters in corporate offices are very conscious of their social responsibility," she says.
What work do these adult children do? They peel garlic, ginger, onions and supply them to hotels. They set curds for restaurants. They make liquid soap, phenyl and so on for small industries that then package and brand them. In Food World stores, for instance, four girls do the work of one person. One fills up plastic pouches with the foodgrains, another weighs it and yet another seals it. In SBI, they help to put letters in envelopes; in some hotels, they help in folding towels. In a special job that was created for the severely handicapped persons, they are taken once in a month or so to a bank that needs to shred its documents before discarding them. These adult children take great joy in tearing paper into pieces: they are deployed with great benefit. They enjoy themselves, and to boot, are even paid for it! 
Yet another idea that developed into a great one is that of the caregivers for the group home inmates. The caregivers of Swayamkrushi too are a special lot. They are destitute women, abandoned by husbands or orphan grown women with nobody to care for them. They are counselled for the job at hand. If they have the aptitude to deal with the special wards they are appointed as caregivers. Those who don't are given some other job like the one the adult children do that gets them an income apart from a regular salary. Thus, yet another set of vulnerable women are given succour, shelter and employment.
Evolving concept
In the last six years the group home concept has gained popularity and today there are nine such homes in different communities. "We have to educate the people. They are apprehensive of renting out their homes thinking we will house 'mad' people. Or they are worried their home would be turned into a 'hospital'. But today the situation has turned around so much that residents in our colonies where the group homes are located call us to inform us of a house or flat falling vacant," she says.
It is not all work and no play for these special people. They have their regular outings, going shopping, to restaurants, to picnics and even travel to places like Kanya Kumari. "We try to give as many opportunities as possible to our children to interact with 'normal' people," she says.