Holding out hope for the visually challenged

BENGALURU: A lot can happen when likeminded NGOs and groups join hands to address a pressing issue. And this time it was the inclusion of the differently-abled into the mainstream job sector.

Close to 50 visually impaired students from the city  participated in a day-long workshop ‘Being Ready’ conducted last Sunday by the Department of Vision Rehabilitation, Sankara Eye Hospital and a non-government, not-for-profit voluntary organisation, Bangalore Chapter of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Young Indians.

The workshop was organised for undergraduate and post-graduate students. 

"From being an English professor to playing professional sports, graduate students aspire for a future. Sadly, if they face any impairment the challenges they face becomes all the more difficult. It was this main issue that made us organise this day-long workshop to make them future ready," said Dr Kaushik Murali, President Sankara Eye Foundation and Chair Young Indians CII Bangalore Chapter. A joint initiative by both the organisations made sense in this initiative, he added.

"Since Sankara Eye Foundation runs campaigns in the visual impairment sphere and the Bangalore Chapter of CII aims at building entrepreneurial spirit among  city's youth, both the organisations have much to offer to the visually impaired and hence we felt the need to organize such a workshop," he added.

The resource persons included specialists from Young Indians Bangalore (Yi Bangalore) membership, industry experts, motivational speakers and life coaches, who would deliberate in practical sessions on government schemes and services to aid employability.

Apart from providing insights into the Disabled Persons Act to schemes which the blind could benefit from, the workshop also focused on government schemes, effective communication skills and similar areas, that will help the students aspire for better job opportunities.

The workshop also helped in creating awareness about safety from abuse at work place. An interactive session on communication by Savitha Reddy, founder Inlingua and Young Indians Member, exposed the students to the 7C’s of communication namely clarity, conciseness, completeness, courtesy, consideration, concrete and correctness. Further sessions looked at confidence building among students.

The workshop culminated with a panel discussion by industry experts from Microsoft India, SAP Labs, Lemon Tree Hotels and Sankara Eye Hospital. Human resource managers at various MNCs in the city spoke about what they are looking for in employees and what's in store for them at such environments.

"The whole idea is about inclusion and such workshops if not a total answer to the issue of inclusion, is definitely a start and many more people should engage in addressing this issue of inclusion," Dr Kaushik added.

"Despite being the first time we have engaged with graduate students, we are planning similar workshop depending on what these students want. If they want us to help them with communications or any other soft skills we are expecting them to reach out to us and we would design it as a continuing endeavor. We are hoping that with this start they would tell us what they want," Dr Kaushik said.