Urgent Evoke

A crash course in changing the world.

  • "Posted by a.v.koshy on April 1, 2010 at 3:30am

Introduction:

I happened to be in Bangalore, India, at Upbeat when the call came. I had been talking to Eureka. No crisis around, Thank God. My body charged mobile beeped. CXP. Damn. It was Citizen X.

Cipher, get your ass out there to cover this new currency, ok?

What? By who?

The social innovator and entepreneur Dr. A.V. Koshy, a Ph.D in English literature, who had started his Help for Autism group after being inspired by participating in Urgent Evoke, ten years ago . It was not a new idea for him, but the game gave him the final push he needed. A question that bothers me is about whether his outfit is in anyway different or original.There are so many like them around now, you know.

What's he up to now?

He has started the idea of autistic children earning and shopping using alternate currency - it's a very interesting concept. Go in there and find out what's happening.

OK.

Damn. Sorry, Eureka. I hate Citizen X.

Many hours later I got the story - it was worth it. I filed it as breaking news. Here it is.

Breaking news: Happiness is worth it's weight in gold.

by Cipher.

April 1, 2020 -18.00

Autistic people or autistic children are many in number these days. The savants among them, or the highly functional ones or the 'healed' or 'cured' miracles or the steadily improving ones apart, many of them are mainly dysfunctional. How can they earn in our society and how can they spend, save etc? Dr A. V. Koshy has come up with a startlingly innovative idea that can only be commended because I saw it in action. If you don't see it you won't believe it and you'll think that I'm fooling you on this April Fool's Day.

He has worked out a community credits idea that is unique. It works like this. First he ran a campaign with the help of every media about the needs of autistic people also to have some form of value, exchange and currency for earning, spending, saving, investing etc. He calls his project the Happiness and Good Will Fund. It works on the simplest of principles. Happiness, aided with and brought about by technology. For the programme's launch he chose first the children in Communication Deall, a local school that has only autistic children in it's care and took them to a nearby Reliance mall - a politically incorrect choice but chosen because if its proximity - that he had tied up with prior to this trip. They were allowed to roam freely through the aisles. All the customers had been supplied with a smile or laugh meter. A Happiness meter. It was a simple contraption, connected to the cheeks and when a customer smiled or laughed it glowed red and registered an amount in rupees or paise depending on the volume of happiness generated which was simply the time the smile or laugh was sustained. No negative emotions are recorded by the machine. The customers laughed as the children ran about and frolicked happily or were sad or created or tried to create mischief as all children would, under the watchful eyes of their teachers while the registers kept clicking. As each customer checked out the ledsmilometer was taken from him and the amount noted. A rupee was deducted on each amount for ensuring fair trade regarding smiles that the children may not have generated. By the end of an hour the children had made an amount of 86 rupees and forty paise. This is a very small amount but it is the beginning and it is the idea that is BIG. This was divided equally among them to take home. The parents, if also there, could exchange the amount for goods which, if bought from the same store, was given at a discount. Profit has to be made, you see. The teachers were entrusted with the rest of the money to ensure it would get to the parents who were not there.

The project has its flaws that need to be ironed out like the huge planning that needs to go into even such a small outing beforehand, but it was amazing to witness as a start up. It can be improved and will become a powerful aid for the future of these people. While the idea of selling smiles is cheap and commercial , the idea of paying for the smiles of and the happiness generated by the differently abled struck me as a brilliant one and the mash up with technology was doubly so. Dr Koshy's Autism for Help is decidedly not just a pioneer in autism farms in India but still different and original after ten years, because of this bold move to bring in an alternate currency into the life of autistic peoples that may even be applied to all differently abled people in the wh*** world eventually.

Tags: autism, discount, exchange, happiness, India, money, rupees, smiles, technology, The Future of Money"

Views: 16

Comment

You need to be a member of Urgent Evoke to add comments!

Join Urgent Evoke

Latest Activity

Ning Admin is now a member of Urgent Evoke
May 17, 2023
N updated their profile
Sep 25, 2020
Sophie C. commented on Asger Jon Vistisen's blog post Stinging Nettle
"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
Aug 19, 2020
Meghan Mulvey posted a blog post

Fourth of July on the Lake

This past weekend was the annual celebration at the lake house in Connecticut. It is amazing that the lake is still so clear and beautiful after all these years. The watershed association has done a wonderful job protecting these waters from the damaging effects of development.The wood grill was finally ready to cook on, so we didn't miss the propane tank fueled grill anymore. The food actually tasted fresher than in the past and was easy to keep fueled.Dad was very proud of the solar hybrid…See More
Jul 6, 2020
Asger Jon Vistisen posted a blog post

Stinging Nettle

In this blog post I will focus on a plant that is abundant in our nature, and which is immensely nutritious. It's of course the Stinging Nettle. Let's start with the chemical constituents of this plant:37 % Non-Nitrogen-Extracts19 - 29 % Ash9 - 21 % Fiber4 % Fat22 % ProteinOnce the leaves are drid, their protein content can reach an astounding 40 %, which is much higher than beef, which even under the best of circ**stances can never exceed 31 % protein. In addition the Stinging Nettle consists…See More
Apr 13, 2020
Jonathon McCallum posted a blog post

The meal

It is 7'oclock, I was late home from work due to an assignment that i wanted to get ahead on. By the time I get home I am feeling extremley tired and I cannot be bothered to make a proper meal. I walk to the fridge and open it to see what there is for me to eat. All of the out of date foodstuffs have been automaticaly thrown away by the fridge, they will be recycled tomorrow as animal feed or something. I see i have organic local eggs and some local cheese. Foods are vacc** sealded for easy…See More
Mar 10, 2020
Jean Paul Galea shared a profile on Facebook
Mar 1, 2020
Kevin posted a blog post

Future

FutureToday is 2020/1/1. It is just like yesterday. The war is still continuing. It has started since 2010. In 2010, that year was a horrible year. Almost every energy ran out. Every country’s governments were crushed down at the same time. There were riots everywhere. All of the big company’s bosses were killed xdeadx in the riots. Troops fought each other everywhere. Food was bought up xawayx at once. There were no more food supplies in any shops. The economy was all crushed down. All the…See More
Jan 1, 2020
Namwaka Mooto posted blog posts
Jan 13, 2016
T D updated their profile
Sep 3, 2015
Brook Warner posted blog posts
Aug 25, 2015
Santiago Vega posted blog posts
May 5, 2015
Santiago Vega commented on Santiago Vega's blog post Act 8
May 5, 2015
Santiago Vega posted photos
May 5, 2015
Rico Angel Rodriguez posted blog posts
May 2, 2015
Rico Angel Rodriguez posted a photo

public servants

The exchange works directly for state and public workers and servants. It gives them credit in exchange for the amount of public work they contribute to the community. The more constructive they are based off a base rate the more credit they recieve.
May 2, 2015

Follow EVOKE on Twitter




Official EVOKE Facebook Page




EVOKE RSS Activity Feed










© 2024   Created by Alchemy.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service