Assistive technology can help build more inclusive workplaces: CII-IWN
The CII Indian Women Network (IWN), Delhi Chapter, hosted “Beyond Inclusion: Assistive Tech Empowering Ability” on Wednesday. Built around three themes of People, Technology and Equal Opportunities, the two panels discussed how to move from inclusion as intent to inclusion in practice and how assistive technology can help organisations get there.
The forum began with a fun, interactive session led by Dr Neeta Mathur, Dean, Management, IILM, Greater Noida, where the audience discussed how inclusive they were in their lives. The audience discussed their conscious and unconscious personal biases and how they react to different kinds of disabilities.
The first panel witnessed an interesting discussion with Madhubala Sharma, Amazon Experiences & Upskilling; Dr Kartik Chadha, Balmer Lawrie; Dr Salaj Rana, National Centre of Assistive Health Technology – AIIMS; Dr Anil Jaggi, Conscious Ventures; Reena Gupta, Ashoka University. The discussion was moderated by Lata Singh, Strategic Advisor – Vyuha.ai & Slashcurate and former partner at IBM.
At the session, Sharma, who is visually impaired, recalled, “When I used to write in Braille in school, I remember my finger became sore by the end of the day. The advent of computers assisted a lot. With text-to-speech technology, things have improved further.” Gupta remembered how, from the initial one visually impaired student, they now have nine studying at the University.
The second panel with Nipun Malhotra, The Quantum Hub; Dr Sakshi Datt, IndiGo; Aradhana Lal, Senior Vice President – Sustainability & ESG, Lemon Tree Hotels; Dr Piyush Chanana, NCAHT, IIT Delhi; Pooja Sehgal Mehtani, Sun Life Global Solutions discussed how each organisation had adopted best practices to ensure inclusion. At the session moderated by Dr Geeta Kumar, DEI and Well-Being Advocate, and operates Pragati: Partners in Progress, Lal said, “When we hired people who had Down syndrome or were hearing impaired, we did not create special jobs for them. We found ways to integrate them in the existing operations.” Dutt emphasised that the process did not end at being inclusive at the hiring stage, but practising true inclusion had to be a part of the workplace atmosphere.
She added, “The differently abled people work much better under emergencies.” Chanana said, “Sometimes it is not about an expensive solution; it is merely about having empathy to bring about a change and to make things easier for a person.” Malhotra had support of house when he wished for a world without barriers.
Vani Bajaj, Co-Chair IWN and President - Bajaj Capital Insurance Broking Ltd. Chief Mentor - International College of Financial Planning (ICOFP) thanked Lata Singh and Madhulika Makar, Founder, Mirus Solutions, for putting the forum together.
She emphasised the need to skill people for better inclusion.
Nisha Mukherjee, APAC Lead for DOI Globallogic, who was attending the sessions, pointed out, “The good thing is that we are having these conversations. The audience from different organisations and backgrounds came together to create this beautiful event.”
The idea that technology is not about devices; it’s about possibilities was the idea that was predominant through both sessions. The sessions saw enthusiastic participation from 120 participants, including business leaders, DEI and HR heads, educators, NGOs, finance enablers, assistive-tech providers, differently abled professionals and CII members.
Ruchika Jain, Chairperson, IWN, said, “The interactions and the exhibitions have been an eye-opener for inclusion.”
People were also seen interacting with the different exhibitors, including Arts & Souls, SAGE, Torch It, The Maalish Co., Saksham, and The Accessible Nation (TAN), among others.
