NCPEDP, along with Accenture, has recently organized a conference on “Youth with Disabilities” in the capital. In the conference, a large number of inspirational participants participated and shared their experience of overcoming from the disability.
A total of 100 persons with disabilities, including 65 students, attended the conference from top-notch institutes like IIT (Kharagpur, Hyderabad, Madras, Roorkee, Guwahati, Delhi); IIM (Bangalore, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Indore, Ranchi); TISS, NIFT New Delhi, School of Planning & Architecture; Symbiosis Law College Pune, University of Punjab, Aligarh Muslim University, Delhi University, Maulana Azad Medical College, among others, pursuing education in various fields like medicine, engineering, social work, design, architecture, and management.
Pratishtha Deveshwar was also one of the inspirational participants at NCPEDP’s National Convention of Youth with Disabilities powered by Accenture. For young Pratishtha, finding an accessible accommodation to live in with an automated wheelchair has been expensive. She has costs that students without disabilities don’t. Besides, travelling around the city, with cabs that cancel when told she is a wheelchair user, is frustrating. But her spirit and family’s support keep her going.
While addressing the audience in the conference, Javed Abidi, Honorary Director, NCPEDP, said, “Fifty per cent of persons with disabilities are under 25 years of age, in keeping with India’s demographic dividend. At NYCD, we were proud to host some of the brightest young disabled people from the topmost colleges and universities. They shared their challenges and their aspirations. They are our future. We are grateful to Accenture for their support. Together, we hope to create a platform for the disabled youth of our country.”
“We know that, despite the quota given by the Government, students with disabilities are not able to make it to colleges and universities across the country. So the students gathered at NYCD are a courageous and resilient lot. Thanks to Accenture, these bright minds felt that they had a supportive ecosystem, a place where they felt welcome,” he added.
Another inspiring participant Ummul Kher who had to leave home and support herself since her 8th standard is now studying to be a civil servant. She attended the NCYD for the second time and shared, “When you take a decision, you make yourself worthy of that.” Ummul fought not just poverty and deprivation but also a debilitating disease. She suffers from the fragile bone disease since her infancy and her right leg is shorter than the other.
Speaking on behalf of Accenture, Rohit Thakur, Managing Director, support for the NYCD was in keeping with their global mandate on inclusion. “We, at Accenture, want to be the most inclusive and diverse employer by 2020,” said at Accenture in India.
Students present at the conference shared that top colleges and universities must allocate resources to provide necessary facilities to assist persons with disabilities with Braille printers, accessible libraries, etc, the professors must be sensitised. Even basics like wheelchair accessibility are not provided as facilities to these students.
