Need to focus on innovation for people with disabilities

There is a need to look for innovation beyond technology and focus on innovation for people with disabilities so that their optimum talent can be explored, said Shakuntala Doley Gamlin, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Government of India (GoI) recently in New Delhi.

She also said that the central government is taking a leadership role for it to be implemented successfully across the states, and added that the total number of disabled people in India according to a 2011 survey is 2.68 crore of which majority are living in poor condition.

"We need to focus on making them part of the society and discover their talent which is often unexplored because of lack of exposure," she stated highlighting that people like Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking who have achieved exemplary success despite their disabilities.

Gamlin was addressing a sensitization workshop on 'Accessibility & Inclusion at Workplace: Rights of Persons with Disabilities ACT 2016 (RPwD Act, 2016)' organized by FICCI in collaboration with the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, GoI.

Sharing about the plans for popularization of Accesibility Index and incentives to Private Employer Scheme, Dolly Chakrabarty, Joint Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) said that disability and poverty go hand in hand and to break this vicious circle, we must empower them through access to opportunities.

FICCI director Uma Seth also said that FICCI strongly believes in creating an inclusive India and we have been working on building such an environment through FICCI's Corpoate Social Responsibility (CSR) vertical since the last two decades.

The discussion concluded with interesting question and answers between government, corporates and NGOs highlighting issues such as the roadblocks of empowering Persons with Disabilities (PwD) in backward rural areas, unavailability of sign language interpreters in various locations like airport, tourist areas etc., and bringing attitudinal change towards disability.