A gathering of 150 people including technology innovators, social entrepreneurs, employers, educators, and NGOs came together at IIM Bangalore on Thursday to share solutions which have played a critical role in the employability and employment of people with a disability.
The event called, “Assistive Solutions Showcase” was hosted by the B-School in association with EnAble India. A statement from IIM Bangalore said , “The event put the spotlight on barriers to societal inclusion, faced by people with disabilities, some of which can be reduced via assistive solutions”.
This event was organized keeping in mind the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which was on December 3.
“Health conditions and disabilities need not always pose roadblocks. In many cases, there are assistive technology solutions which can enable all of us to perform better in many spheres of life,” said Prof Mukta Kulkarni, Mphasis Chair for Digital Accessibility and Inclusion at IIMB.
“Through such events we hope to not only highlight solutions but also co-create and disseminate such solutions”, he added.
The Solutions Coffee Table Book, launched at the event, features a variety of solutions designed, developed, and adapted to enable persons with a disability.
There were a lot of solutions highlighted at the event which included how student with vision impairment can learn how light travels using a Light Probe. Another solution showed how a person who has a lower limb disability can use ‘Rise Legs’ to aspire to participate in athletics. A person who is deaf can dream to have a career in a customer-facing role with a Communication Board.
The event concluded with the creation of a network that aimed at sharing and building solutions for the employability and employment of persons with disability.