Honouring the specially-abled with the limca Book of Records, will go a long way to achieve inclusivity
Recently, the limca Book of Records launched its latest edition with much fanfare at an event in Mumbai. One may ask: What is so special about itIJ Notable it was, as for the first time the lBR, which is next to the Guinness World Records, covered achievements of 15 specially-abled who have not let any form of disability come in their way of success. Rather, they have left an impression in their respective fields.
Meet, Akbar Khan, the first visually-impaired candidate to qualify in the SSC Hindi shorthand and stenography examination. Arunima Sinha is the first specially-abled woman, who lost a leg in a rail mishap, to climb the Mount Everest, while wheelchair-user Suresh Advani, an oncologist, has the credit of performing the first successful bone marrow transplant on a leukemia patient.
Winner of the national award for outstanding contribution towards welfare of Persons with Disabilities is another wheel-chair user, Javed Ahmad Tak, while Ramsurat Majhi, a messenger of peace, journeyed 23,000km across India for national harmony.
Visually-challenged Ashwini Angadi and Aayushi Pareek respectively have won the United Nations Youth Courage Award for Education and getting admission to the Bar Council of Rajasthan.
KS Rajanna is a paralympic gold medalist, entrepreneur and the first differently-abled Commissioner of the State Department for Disabled in Karnataka while Major Devender Pal Singh (Retd.), a Kargil war hero, is now an inspiring marathon blade runner despite of physical disability.
Similarly, mentally-challenged Saylee Nandkishor Agavane is a bronze medalist at the Global Olympiad Dance Competition, while Ranveer Singh Saini with autism is a gold medalist golfer at the World Special Olympics.
Zameer Dhale is an advocacy activist for multi-sensory impaired persons in India while visually-impaired Rajive Raturi has taken up the cudgel on behalf of the specially-abled, fighting for their legal rights.
KY Venkatesh is the first Indian athlete at the World Dwarf Games who have won six medals and Radhika Chand, born with Down Syndome, is an accomplished painter and an award winning teacher to the specially-abled.
Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy and Coca-Cola India and South West Asia president Venkatesh Kini felicitated them as the ‘People of the Year 2016' on behalf of the lBR at a function hosted in the national capital on April 14.
Kini shared that they had chosen this year to celebrate the ‘Specially abled' for their determination and passion to rise above the ordinary. True, their achievements are extraordinary, for the off-beat path they have boldly taken at a time dispelling the notion that they can be good only for traditional jobs such as music, basket weaving and candle making.
Though, it's yet a long way to go for the society to recognise the talent of the specially-abled, clearly baby steps in these directions are being taken here and there in the country. To quote Patu Keswani, Chairman, CII National Committee on Special Abilities and chairman and managing director, lemon Tree Hotels, hiring PwDs is not a matter of charity.
In fact, the advantages of recruiting the people with disabilities are being accepted — ranging from increased productivity, reduced attrition rate, reduced absenteeism and a brand image of being an inclusive enterprise with positive spin-off for all stakeholders.
lemon Tree has made accessibility as an integral part of its business model. About 13 per cent of the employees, that is nearly 400 of the 3,000 people, are with disabilities. Most of them are hearing and speech impaired, and general managers in the chain are expected to learn sign language to communicate with them.
The company has now started recruiting people who are orthopedically impaired and those with Down Syndrome. The inclusive work policy has sensitised the staff to the needs of guests with disabilities.
The company's philosophy hinges on creating inclusive workplace as a top-down approach with dedicated resources to ensure inclusion.
Similarly, Yum! Restaurants India, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell was awarded for its disable-friendly policies with the prestigious national award for the Empowerment of Persons with Dissabilities-2014 by the Government.
Many, like Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Devyani International limited, Vindhya Infomedia, the Royal Bank of Scotland, landmark Group, Aegis limited, Titan and Nipman Group too are following the suit.
To encourage more corporates to move towards inclusivity, Union Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, launched the ‘Inclusiveness and Accessibility Index' prepared by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, to mark the next chapter of the Government's flagship Campaign, the ‘Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan'.
Emphasising on the need of nurturing talent of PwDs, Naidu stressed on equipping them with skill training to make optimum use of their potential, and it is only then that the country will transform into an inclusive India and give true meaning to the clarion call of ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas'.
Corporate giant Murthy echoed similar sentiments at the lBR event, when he pitched for setting up targets and accountability for the corporates to ensure that inclusiveness finds a permanent place in the society in a true sense.