Despite enacting landmark legislation
Bangalore: To promote the rights of people with disability in the past decade and an increasing awareness of their marginalization, India's actions to promote the rights of eight percent of its citizens has been found wanting, a World Bank report says. However, some Indian corporations are taking steps in this direction.
The Equal Opportunity team at Infosys BPO has organized several games and events such as collage competition, relay race, dance, mime and awards for their 190 differently abled employees to commemorate world disability day. The company supports differently abled people from the application stage to their induction into a team. Sensitization workshops are conducted for regular employees to increase awareness about disability and to foster a positive environment.
"I joined Infosys BPO in 2007 and am now a senior process executive in the account payable process for a U.S. customer, who selected me to visit them in the U.S. to transition and streamline a particular process," says Shalini Aggarwal, who is a hearing impaired.
"Disability access audits of our offices has resulted in ramps and accessible washrooms in our newly constructed offices, special software is provided to the visually impaired and regular employees are trained to evacuate disabled employees as part of disaster preparedness," says Raghavendra K, VP and Head, Human Resources, Infosys BPO. A focused approach to induct differently abled individuals into the company is evident in the company's recruitment ad which clearly states 'differently abled individuals are also eligible to apply.'
Vinyas Innovative Technologies, an electronic hardware manufacturing solutions company, employs eight mentally challenged and 26 hearing impaired youngsters. "These youngsters work very hard, perform consistently delivering the same quality of work and never lie, as a result of which every one else in the company has changed for the better," says N Narendra, Founder of Vinyas, who plans to hire many more differently abled youngsters in 2010.
MphasiS, an HP company, has over 300 people (one percent of their workforce) with disabilities in their workforce across businesses. Wipro does not track the number of disabled staff on its rolls. The company is running a signature campaign where employees will sign up to say that they will support and encourage differently abled colleagues in the workplace. "All Wiproites have been asked to wear the blue and yellow (the colours of disability) to work tomorrow to show that they care. And NGOs who work with the disabled have been invited to display and sell their products at our campus tomorrow," said a Spokesperson from Wipro.
Similarly, MindTree does not keep track of the number of disabled employees. "They do not like to avail of the statutory government benefits due to them, nor be differentiated as differently enabled. They want to be treated on par with regular staff. Therefore, we consider them as MindTree minds, just like the others," talent acquisition Head Sanjay Shelvankar says.
Interestingly, the MindTree Foundation has been working for the last six months on a new initiative called affordable assistive technology solutions for the disabled. The foundation has considered 21 different assistive technology initiatives to address individuals with cerebral palsy and musculo-skeletal disorders, of which 14 have moved beyond the initial evaluation and are in various stages of development.
"The idea is to provide solutions such as, single access switches for less than Rs. 1,000 and augmentative/alternative devices which are almost like computers for less than Rs. 10,000," says Raja Shanmugam, CEO of MindTree Foundation.
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