National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (NIEPID)

National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Formerly National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped) established in the year 1984 at Manovikasnagar, Secunderabad (TS) is an Autonomous Body under the administrative control of Deparment of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India. NIEPID (Formely NIMH) is dedicated to provide quality services to Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Divyangjan) in the National interest.

NIEPID(Formerly NIMH) has three regional centers located at Noida/ New Delhi, Kolkata, & Mumbai, NIEPID(Formerly NIMH) Model Special Education Center located at Noida/New Delhi. The institute endeavors to excel in building capacities to empower Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Divyangjan) .  Since the quality of life of every Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Divyangjan) 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 Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Formerly National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped) empowers the Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Divyangjan) 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 NIEPID(Formerly 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, 3 Diploma Courses (DSE(MR), DVR, DECSE). Further, 1 Graduate course (B.Ed Spl.Ed(MR)), 1 Post-graduate Diploma course (PGDEI) and 1 Master course (M.Ed Spl.Ed) and 1 M.Phil (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 Intellectual Disabilities (Divyangjan) (b) the holistic development of the Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Divyangjan) 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 NIEPID(Formerly NIMH) newsletter and bimonthly Mentard Bulletin.

The Institute conducts International and National level Conference/Seminars/Workshops on Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Divyangjan) in partnership with leading voluntary organizations, parent associations. Special employees National meet at NIEPID(Formerly NIMH), National meet of parent organizations and National level Workshops.  In order to rehabilitate the Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Divyangjan) 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.

The institute focuses on quality in every aspect of its functioning to bring equality and dignity in the lives of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Divyangjan), which is endorsed by ISO 9001: 2015 certification.-