Sumati Nagrath a journalist at Business World conducted an interview on the accessibility of India’s facilities for disabled people.

Sumati interviewed two employees Shivani Gupta and Anjlee Agarwal.

Shivani Gupta is 38 years old and works at a company called AccessAbility, which is a company based in Delhi. Shivani is a specialist consultancy outfit and has an issue with Delhi’s public transport system.

She finds it to be the most “disabled-unfriendly” transport system for people like her on a wheel chair. Due to this Gupta is now a staunch advocate of a barrier-free environment and she is passionate about developing a concept of universal design.

She says that India “needs to create buildings that are accessible and usable by everyone, including people with disabilities,” .She says “these buildings and transport facilities should support the independent functioning of individuals so that they can participate without assistance and with dignity, in everyday activities.” Which is what universal design is all about.

Gupta suggests that it is wise for any upcoming building to provide accessibility at the design and construction stage itself. At that stage, the additional costs would be just about 2 per cent of the total project cost. “Building in accessibility features at a later stage will not only be more expensive but also very difficult,” she says.

Anjlee Agarwal, is an executive director of Samarthya which is a Delhi-based NGO. Anjlee propagates that a barrier-free environment needs to be created for disabled people. To overcome this barriers Samarthya worked in tandem with the Delhi Metro and DTC to make the city’s transport system accessible to disabled people. She say’s a majority of the public buildings and transport facilities are still not disabled-friendly despite the Disability Act (1995) which clearly states that the Central Coordination Committee should “ensure a barrier-free environment in public places, work places, etc”.

Sumati says that the key to solving these issues that people like Gupta and Agarwal are facing, lies in an increased awareness about problems faced by the disabled, and sensitisation and training of architects, town planners and policy makers, needs to be adopted.

Presently Sumati says specialist consultancy outfits such as Raghvan’s Enable India and Shivani Gupta’s AccessAbility are working earnestly to overcome these hurdles. They provide end-to-end solutions in training, employability and accessibility for the disabled.

Sumati also interviews Gupta about the inaccessability of India’s education system for the disabled.

“Education systems in India still tend to exclude those who are disabled,” says Gupta. “The curriculum of these so-called specialist schools is outdated and fails to equip people with disabilities with the skills necessary for employment in the new economy. So, when the private sector comes to recruit, we have an incredibly small pool of people with requisite skills.” Exclusive schools also deny a person the opportunity to acquire the soft skills necessary in negotiating contemporary workspaces.

Inherently Sumati say’s “that even though policies are in place to help provide empowerment to the disabled”, facilities need to be accessible to the disabled, which is a “red carpet to mending their lives”.

Sourced from:"Definitely abled"Published 03 September 2007 in Business World by Sumati Nagrath .Available at http://www.businessworld.in/content/view/2407/2485/1/0/

Representativeness of differently abled workers in American Organisations: Technological advancements to make work easier

Technology has helped many differently impaired individuals in the workplace to do a job that is productive. Research shows that many companies in America have made provisions to employ people with disabilities. In America there are 54 million people with disabilities, but with the latest Census Bureau data it shows that two out three differently impaired people that are capable of working are unemployed. This is the highest unemployment rate. The census figures also showed that 77% of people with non-severe disabilities had a job or owned a business whereas 26% of the people with severe disabilities were employed Sacha Cohen (2002). UnumProvident Corp.'s an American based company employed a worker who was a quadriplegic who needed help to him to sort out ream of paper and scan pertinent pages, but now the company has advanced technology that enables him to work efficiently by himself. The company has established the paperless office for the workers who are mobility impaired and could not operate the keyboard and mouse manually.

Another American based company called Sears Roebuck and Co. also employs disabled workers and believes that it is to their advantage. Recruitment Director Bill Donahue says that Sears have problems finding good talent whether they are disabled or not, but they do tend to favour the disabled workers when it comes to employment. He goes on to say that the differently impaired individuals are loyal and committed to their jobs but nobody is willing to give them a chance in the companies.

IBM which is another American based company agreed with the Sears perspective on the disabled employees. In 1990 the company started a project called Project Able. It focused on employing and retaining workers with disabilities. Jim Sinocchi who is a quadriplegic co-chairperson of IBM’s People Disabilities Executive Taskforce says that, since 1999 the company has hired more that 200 differently impaired individuals Sacha Cohen (2002).

Like the companies mentioned above, the employers can employ talented workers with disabilities with the help of a variety of plentiful and affordable technological products. Theses technologies can help the disabled, with disabilities such as hearing, speech, vision and mobility impairments, to overcome barriers in the workplace.

Skip Simonds, director of UnumProvident's Corporate Return-to-Work Program Development says that it is important for the HR and hiring managers of every company to put aside the perspective of disabled people and hire the best person for the job. UnumProvident's Corporate Return-to-Work Program Development helps employers to develop and implement programs that keep the differently impaired workers at work or allow them to return to work. Simonds suggested that the employees, whether they are disabled or not, be asked this question: “What do you need to do your job?” This allows the worker to state there needs and they are then accommodated in the workplace without making a presumption about a disability. The American with Disability Act (ADA), states that the applicant has to say what accommodation they require. It is then the employer’s job to accommodate the worker as best as they can. If the technology is ineffective it will limit the productivity for any company therefore the HR as to make sure that they select products that are most sufficient for the disabled workers to function adequately. Therefore there needs to be communication between the employee, manager, HR, an assistive-technology consultant and also a medical professional.