Mindsets, attitudinal barriers, and lack of awareness are still a deterrent for providing jobs to Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), experts here lamented at an event held recently.
“One area that all companies should look at is to find ways in which the abilities of persons with disabilities can get utilized. If we use persons with disabilities as wallflowers, it becomes a lose-lose situation, for the company and the employee,” said Arundhati Bhattacharya Chairperson and CEO Salesforce (India).
He was speaking at a discussion at the NCPEDP- Mindtree Helen Keller Awards 2020 event where 11 persons were felicitated virtually as a recognition of their exemplary work towards furthering employment opportunities for PwDs.
Saurabh Chandra, Trustee NCPEDP said, “The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwDs Act) is one of the strongest disability legislations in the world, however problem lies in its implementation because of lack of understanding, awareness, or maybe because of a belief that providing jobs to PwDs comes at a high cost. This mindset needs to be changed.”
Som Mittal, industry doyen and Chairman NCPEDP, talked about the myriad of challenges-the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic-on PwDs like access to finance, pension, healthcare facilities, transport and livelihood.
He said, leaving no one behind is the key to a resilient and sustainable society. Thus, actions must be prioritised as per the most marginalised”.
Arman Ali, Executive Director, NCPEDP said by felicitating Helen Keller Awards, we celebrate the leadership of people with disabilities and equal opportunity employers. They are showing everyone the way by including disability into businesses and beyond their call of duty. In this new normal, it’s all about diversity and of the winners and is no longer limited to big cities”.
Awardees included, among others, Ajay Minocha, the first visually impaired person from India to receive CFA Charter from CFA Institute, USA, and Kartik Sawhney, the first-ever visually impaired student to study science in India who made news when he was refused admission to IIT on account of his disability but excelled at Stanford University and today works as an AI Scientist at Microsoft.
