At a workshop by NASSCOM Foundation & Praveen Kumar (a visually-challenged social worker) on inclusive growth in the disability context
Participants at, 'Addressing diversity - Recognising skills' - a workshop held in the capital by NASSCOM Foundation and Mr. Praveen Kumar (G) a visually challenged social worker from , were blindfolded, gagged and tied-up to help them experience challenges that those with disabilities encounter in a day-to-day life.
NASSCOM Foundation [NF], the leading Indian development organization that works towards galvanizing the corporate social responsibility (CSR) space in the IT industry in India; and the social development arm of NASSCOM, organized the workshop with an aim to address issues of diversity and inclusion of persons with disabilities in the IT-BPO sector.
Over the last decade, the IT-BPO sector has emerged as a leader on diversity issues and has won accolades for its work on inclusivity. The NF Accessibility Initiative aims to tap in the hidden talent of people with disabilities and use it for the IT industry. The workshop was an interactive session on the IT-BPO industry to help understand disability and inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce. Job fitment and skill sets were some important topics discussed along with views from Government representative, Dy. Commissioner of the Office of the people with disabilities.
Praveen navigated the workshop through a presentation which outlined the history of disability through the ages to the present and invited the audience to share their experiences in the area of disability. While Dr. Jitendra Aggarwal, who runs a successful training and placement institute for people with disabilities, focused on the need to bring in those people with disabilities who have had elementary education into the IT-BPO industry by identifying skill sets for them, he also focused on the need based accessibility tools needed for the people with disabilities to be part of the IT-BPO workforce. Companies like IBM (winner of the Helen Keller Award 2009), Wipro, Genpact, gave their inputs on the need to include people with disabilities in the workforce by reworking HR policies and recognizing merit irrespective of disabilities.
The workshop covered issues of accessibility through simulation exercises where participants were either blindfolded, or had their upper limbs and lower limbs tied and made to do simple day to day exercises. They were then asked to share their experience and learning at the end of the session. A documentary film was shown to drive home the point that disability is not an issue when the industry recognizes talents. The office of the Commissioner of People with Disabilities, represented by the Deputy Commissioner Mr. T.D. Dhariyal gave a picture of the seriousness with which the Government is pursuing the issue of employment for PWD's in the private sector. NGOs like Khushboo, which deal with people with intellectual disability spoke of the need for training so that people with such disabilities gain a minimum level of confidence.
This workshop is part of NASSCOM and NASSCOM Foundation's Accessibility initiative for people with disabilities. NASSCOM Foundation seeks to work as a bridge between the IT sector and people with disabilities by focusing on issues of employment within the IT sector, on Physical Accessibility and web accessibility in the work place and on assistive technologies that can be developed to provide a barrier free environment for the people with disabilities so that they too can have an equal opportunity in the IT sector.
Over the years, the IT-BPO sector has undergone a remarkable change in its recruitment policies by hiring people with disabilities. The industry has made a major headway on diversity issues and has won accolades for its work on inclusivity. There is still much that the industry strived to achieve on the issues of inclusivity and NASSCOM Foundation feels the need for an engaging dialogue between the industry, people with disabilities and the NGO sector in order to work out ways in which to tap the potential of people with disabilities and build awareness on their inclusivity.
The disability cause is close to the heart of Rufina Fernandes, CEO at NASSCOM Foundation. Having also been a former Chairperson of the All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB), she believes that ability has more to do with attitude than just physical competence. She says, "The IT-BPO industry is a forward looking sector with many of its members adopting progressive HR and diversity policies. However, more companies need to imbibe such policies leading to active inclusion of people with disabilities in the industry. NF believes that skill matching and job fitment are some of the most important issues at hand when recruiting persons with disability and the IT industry has the ability, focus and resources to make it happen."
The workshop ended on a positive note by invitees taking a resolution to work on two issues on disabilities and then giving a feedback on the success rate.
About Praveen Kumar G
Visually challenged Mr. Praveen Kumar G, is Programme Manager at VSO India. He is not impeded by his visual impairment. A Gurukul Chevening scholar from the London School of Economics and Political Science, he works with VSO India. Being visually impaired, he excelled at facilitating the NASSCOM Foundation workshop on 'Accessibility Initiative - Understanding Diversity'
About NASSCOM Foundation
NASSCOM Foundation is a charity registered under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 and under Section 12A of Income Tax Act; the social development arm of NASSCOM, the internationally recognized trade body of the Indian IT industry. NASSCOM Foundation aimsto channelize the potential of the IT-BPO industry towards inclusive development of India. For further details refer to www.nasscomfoundation.org
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