When 18-year-old Rajan Rajak's father talks about the youngster, it is with an unmistakable glow of pride.

A laundry owner in Telco, Jamshedpur, Ravinder Rajak feels Rajan may be intellectually disabled, but that doesn't define him.

"He's a completely normal boy, who loves his work, interacts with his peers and family. Barring a bit of speech impairment, he is like any normal person," said the laundry owner.

The businessman's confidence in his son has come from Parents' Association of Mentally Handicapped of Jamshedpur (PAMHJ), an outfit in Dhatkidih, which trains Rajan and 34 other youngsters like him, including girls, in skills such as making candles, incense sticks and clay diyas.

From 2009, when Rajan joined the PAMHJ, to 2015, there's been a vast improvement, feels his dad. "His body language has become way more confident than before," he smiled

Manas Kumar Das, father of another PAMHJ student Abhishek, concurred. "I'm just relieved and happy to watch Abhishek shape up so well," Manas told The Telegraph. "Come to PAMHJ and watch him. He's so efficient in his work."

"We give vocational training to students with an IQ of less than 70 so that they learn to make products that have a regular demand. Each student now gets Rs 500 a month as stipend from income generated while the rest is spent to run the institution," PAMHJ secretary P. Babu Rao said.

On the progress of the youngsters, Rao said: "Initially, they made candles, incense sticks and clay diyas under guidance of teachers, but now they are making them on their own. They seldom make mistakes in preparing the products. In fact, the old students are teaching their skills to six new ones."

He added that he shared the most precious dream of parents with an intellectually disabled youngster. "I want to see them lead self-sufficient, dignified lives, integrated into the social mainstream. I want to tell people, don't pity them, but buy the things they make out of respect for their skill and effort."

He added: "Our students can give candles, clay diyas and incense sticks produced by other agencies a run for their money."

City-based social worker Sukhdeep Kaur, who completed a foundation course on mental retardation from Deepshikha, a Ranchi-based NGO that helps improve skills of people with intellectual disabilities, said unlike IQ, work efficiency of the mentally-challenged improves with practice.

"IQ won't rise but work efficiency can and does," Kaur, who runs Jeevika, an NGO involved in promotion for mentally challenged, stressed.

Suggest other skills for the intellectually disabled at ttkhand@abpmail.com