Mumbai ( CNN ) -- When I first heard that a nine-year-old boy had been found tied to a bus stop in Mumbai , I was surprised . He ca n't have been , I thought . In Mumbai ? When I found out where the bus stop in question was , I was even more surprised . I pass by that area often . I 'd never seen a young boy chained to a pole . Had I passed by and just not noticed ? Like me , thousands of Mumbaikars did n't see Lakhan Kale , who suffers from cerebral palsy , on the pavement . According to the last census conducted in 2011 , around 26.8 million people are in living with disabilities in India . That 's 2.2 % of the population of more than 1.2 billion . Other bodies , including the World Bank , say the figure is much higher . However , many of disabled people , like Lakhan , are allowed to quietly fade into the background in a populous country wracked by poverty where the worth and survival of many depends on their ability to work . Let me tell you Lakhan 's story . Life on the pavement . In addition to cerebral palsy , the general term for a group of neurological conditions that affect the body 's movement and coordination , Lakhan is deaf and mute . `` He was fine when he was born , in fact he was a chubby baby , '' his paternal grandmother Sakubai recalls . She says a few months later , Lakhan developed a high fever . `` One night , he shook violently , '' she says . `` He was never the same again . '' Sakubai tears up when she talks to us about her grandson . We meet her at her home -- a grimy stretch of pavement , right behind the bus stop . Desperately poor , this is where she lives . She sleeps here on a sari she spreads onto the ground . She eats here , buying food from a street vendor when she can afford to . She is Lakhan 's only caretaker . She tells us his father passed away four years ago . His mother deserted them . His older sister ran away . For a long time , it was just Sakubai and her grandson living , eating , sleeping and surviving together on the pavement . She may be in her 70s , but Sakubai still works to earn a meager living selling small toys and trinkets on Chowpatty , a popular beachfront in the heart of Mumbai . She says she had no choice but to tie him to a pole . `` He is deaf so he would not be able to hear traffic coming . If he ran onto the road , he 'd get killed , '' she says . `` See , it 's a long rope , '' Sakubai says , as she shows me the frayed cloth she would use to tie Lakhan 's leg . I notice many of them , tied to different poles . Lakhan is not alone . There are many children like Lakhan in Mumbai , says Meena Mutha , a social worker . Mutha 's been involved with his case since the end of May . Lakhan was taken into care after a photographer published his photo in the local newspaper . A police constable saw it and asked Mutha to intervene . `` When I saw him first , I did feel he needs help . He needs a home , '' Mutha recalls . Since his grandmother is already 70 years old , he could be without a caretaker in five or 10 years , she says . He needed somewhere secure to stay . Unable to find a shelter that looks after children with special needs , Mutha took him to a government-run juvenile center in Mumbai . Lakhan is there now but Mutha is n't happy because it 's not a home for children with special needs . And that 's the problem , Mutha says . There 's a serious shortage of residential facilities for children with disabilities in Mumbai . The superintendent of the facility , S. A. Jadhav says Lakhan is being well looked after but he too is trying to find him a more suitable home . According to Jadhav , there is only one shelter for children with special needs in Mumbai and he ca n't get Lakhan a spot there because that too is severely overcrowded . CNN attempted several times to contact the minister responsible for women and children 's affairs in Mumbai , Varsha Gaikwad , but received no response . Her office is a short walk away from bus stop 59 where Lakhan was found . Poverty and disability are dangerous combinations , says Dr. Shabnam Rangwala , who works with Able Disable People Together ( ADAPT ) , a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create an inclusive disability-friendly India . Those who can afford to give their children or family members the care they need , do so . Those who ca n't , end up like Lakhan ; on the streets , with no recourse to social services , invisible to the public . For more information on how to directly help Lakhan , and people like him , go to manavfoundation.org.in .
Deaf and mute , nine-year-old Lakhan Kale was being cared for by his grandmother . She tied him to a pole while she went to work selling trinkets on a Mumbai beachfront . He now lives in a juvenile center but it 's not a home for children with special needs . Comment: