The Wadhwani Foundation and National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) have come together to create more jobs for disabled persons across the country. They announced on Thursday that they would start a campaign aimed to facilitate employment for 2,000 differently abled youth.
Over the next two years, the tie-up, which is part of ‘Opportunity Network for the Disabled’ (OND) — an initiative by Wadhwani Foundation—will create employment opportunities in the IT sector through advocacy and job placement campaigns.
A ‘Web Accessibility Handbook’, which provides corporates information on creating conducive working environments to the disabled, was also launched on the occasion.
Nasscom president Som Mittal stressed that Indian companies should employ differently abled persons. “We were really lucky to find Wadhwani and through this initiative, we will make sure that the educated disabled will have the right soft skills to do well in the industry. Also, try and sensitise people on this issue,” he said.
For Nasscom CEO Rita Soni, the problem primarily lies in the lack of infrastructure to encourage differently abled persons to access employment opportunities. “Accessibility is a big problem faced by differently abled persons and we are not talking about making the workplace accessible for persons in wheelchairs, but really connecting all employees through an inclusive ecosystem,” Soni said.
As for the additional costs that fledgling companies would have to invest to make their working spaces more disabled friendly, Soni believes they would be minimal. “It does not cost as much as you would think and companies would actually end up covering the costs by a large margin as they can now employ from a diverse pool of candidates,” she added.
The mission is to bring differently abled persons to the mainstream, said Dr Ajay Kela, president and CEO of Wadhwani foundation. “Educated and differently abled persons are a rare breed. They have to overcome bad educational and transportation infrastructure to get an education. They will make for superior employees. Over the next five years, we want to place and train over 100,000 persons for corporate jobs,” said Kela.
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