I know big magic,” beams Vishnu R, grinning from ear to ear. The young man from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala is talking about illusion, considered one of the most difficult magic tricks to execute. But Vishnu is no ordinary magician.
At the Magic Planet in Kazhakootam, about 10 km from Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram, Vishnu is a much-sought-after performer, who can execute difficult magic tricks and entertain audiences for hours. Born with cerebral palsy, the 24-year-old young man fought his condition and social stigma to arrive on the stage. Vishnu, however, is eager to share the credit for his success each time he leaves the stage to an institution, the Different Art Centre (DAC), he arrived at five years ago.
Situated on the campus of Magic Planet, the DAC is home to scores of young people like Vishnu who are suffering from conditions such as cerebral palsy, autism and down syndrome, but want to make a difference in the way they live. Equipped with state-of-the-art tools and trainers, the DAC helps them to first learn their own strengths, and slowly perfect them to become a professional performer. Many of the DAC students receive training in magic while others learn dance, music, painting and drama.
Founded in 2019, the DAC works on a scientific model for the intellectual and mental progress of differently-abled children. “No science has ever told us how a child is born differently,” says Gopinath Muthukad, a Merlin Award-winning magician who quit the stage six years ago and donated all his savings to launch the DAC. “As a person who adores magic, my attention was on how magic could help these innocent children,” he adds.
Tapping talent
Spread over a five-acre area, the DAC today has 200 students aged 14 years and above participating in a comprehensive learning programme to acquire basic functions of learning such as reading, writing, simple mathematics, language development, matching exercises, solving puzzles, sequences and attention through sound as well as behavioural coaching. The facilities range from a gym to virtual reality learning hall, to help sensory integration and provide speech and language therapy. Equipped with smart learning tools like tablets, the students steadily inch towards their elementary education while improving life skills, basic self-care tasks, basic literacy, conceptual understanding, acquisition of speed and abilities to engage with peers and society.
“We tap some talent in the children,” says Muthukad about the first steps at the DAC in helping the students. Magic was the talent students like Vishnu and Abhijit PS were bestowed with. “Vishnu was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was seven months,” says his mother Deepa S. “He was late for walking and talking. I had to help him do everything,” she adds. “Vishnu couldn’t hold any object for long when he first arrived here. He also didn’t mingle with others,” recalls Sujeev S, an employee of the DAC. Vishnu’s interest in magic was first observed when he joined the Anu Yatra, a learning campaign for children with special needs launched by the Kerala government in partnership with Muthukad’s Academy of Magical Science in Thiruvananthapuram seven years ago. “He didn’t like dance or music, but was interested in magic,” says Deepa, an employee of the food court at the Magic Planet. After months of sessions and training, Vishnu today can perform card tricks, magic box and even the Houdini escape act.
Abhijit, 17, who suffers from intellectual disabilities, arrived at the DAC in 2022 as a student of its second batch of magic training. Three years later, he can make coins disappear along with a range of magic like levitating a person and making doves appear from inside a hat. “I liked magic and learned it here,” says Abhijit, who sat for the Class XII examination this year. At the Magic Planet’s sprawling auditorium, Abhijit and Vishnu are among the DAC’s five students who earn a salary by performing in front of daily audiences, numbering about 800. Other DAC students like Gautham Sheen, 22, who suffers from autism, has received computer training to become a graphic designer while Parvathi PV, a resident of Ottappalam in Palakkad district of Kerala who is hearing impaired and suffers from intellectual disabilities, has quickly moved on to painting, becoming a Harry Potter theme drawing specialist.
Inclusive India
According to the World Health Organization, 15% of the global population live with some form of disability. The percentage is 2.2, or 26.8 million people in India, as per the 2011 Census. In 2016, the government adopted the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, aimed to provide equal opportunities for people with disabilities. Last year, Muthukad led a cross-country tour from Kanyakumari to Kashmir to create awareness for social inclusion of persons with disabilities, giving opportunities to DAC students to perform magic at several cities across the country.
The DAC students receive help from professionals, including a psychologist, speech and language pathologist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, clinical linguist and special education trainers. “We also help students who are hyper active. Basic concepts like brushing teeth and crossing a road are also taught. It is a misconception that people with disabilities can’t learn,” says Anil Kumar Nair, a rehabilitation psychologist and specialist in behavioural sciences, and director (Interventions) at the DAC.
Encouraged by the success stories, the DAC is now expanding its scale of work. Last month, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan laid the foundation stone for a new International Institute for People With Disabilities in Kasargode. “Our aim is an inclusive society where people with special needs are not left out,” adds Muthukad.
Faizal Khan is a freelancer
