vadodara to mark the international day of disabled persons over 26 ngos in the city have joined hands to host an 11day fest to encourage people with disability the fest began from thursday with a rally and there are several programmes planned for the coming days which include sports and cultural competitive events along with a mass marriage function to be hosted for differentlyabled persons the rally which was flagged off from kuber bhavan saw over 1000 people with various disabilities participating in it in the first event we received encouraging response from all ngos and differentlyabled people posters and banners with regards to spreading awareness regarding prevention early identification and timely management of mental retardation and physical disability were also displayed various ngos distributed information brochures and pamphlets among people said executive director of united way uwb of baroda dolcy simon this is also for the first time that an 11day celebration is being organized with all ngos coming together for a collaborative programme variety of programmes will be staged by differentlyabled and one will see them testing their talents in volleyball racing and other sports we will host a cultural evening in which people with some or the other disability will be putting up a dance or singing performance medical camps picnic cricket tournament antakshari as well as art competition have been planned during the fest simon added through this festival we want to give a platform to differentlyabled and help them communicate their problems with general public this will help us in mainstreaming them with the society the need of the hour is to accept them with their disability and help them in getting equal opportunities simon shared