What they don’t tell you about an internship at EnAble India

Picture of Kavya standing in front of main office
Kavya Srinivasan

1. There is never place to sit:

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and the EI offices will tell you that when you find somewhere to sit, make sure you just stay there. Don’t ever leave, don’t go to the bathroom, don’t so much as move a muscle. You will lose your seat.

The likelihood is high that the chair you’re sitting in already belongs to someone else anyway. “Oh, but Esther sits there..” “Actually, that’s Shivaprasad’s sir spot…” In these cases, the correct procedure is to ask when the owner of the chair will be back. You may be pleasantly surprised to find someone is on the field for a few days, and your worries will be temporarily gone.

I’ve spent more of my internship looking for somewhere to sit than I have actually sitting.

  1. Didn’t get a job description? There are no job descriptions.

It takes you a day or two to figure this one out, and it’s a big secret at Enable India. Every one does everything. Thought you were going to work on one project? You have another think coming. Your skills are at editing, you can be sure that you’ll be involved in something software or business related. You’ll do phone calls for sourcing no matter who you are. Everyone is fair game for data entry.

I mistakenly went up to Shanti in the first week saying I’ve got some time on my hands. Never again.

  1. The best thing about the day happens at 11 and again at 4: Coffee.

You’re eyes are getting a little heavy. There’s a general air of too much going on. You check your watch, and discover that it’s coffee time. Suddenly, it’s all good. The whole office pulls out little coasters from wherever they’re hidden the rest of the time, and for a few minutes we all slurp our tea, coffee or green tea companionably. And we munch our biscuits. And then we go back to our lives.

This isn’t just coffee at EI, it’s a symbol. It’s the grand equalizer. And is therefore taken very seriously. Otherwise impassioned meetings pause for coffee, sourcing calls stop for coffee, everything stops for coffee.

  1. Get used to no one checking your emails.

Saying ‘how-do-you-do’, that’s a formality. Shaking hands, a formality. You know what else is a formality? Emails. No one reads them, no one replies to them.

You devise your workarounds to this, and this is highly confidential and relevant information if you want to work at EI. This is how: First, send your email. Then, send a text message about your email. Then, go up to wherever the concerned person is sitting (god knows how this is done, since everyone’s sitting in a new place every day). Tell this person to check their mail. And pray.

  1. You’ll fall in love with the place, the people and everything. You will regret any internship you did before, and every internship you do after.

There’s a magic to this office, and there’s no other way to explain it. You learn, and laugh, and make friends. Every single person at the EI office has made my life better in their own way, and I hope I did the same! It’s a crazy place, overrun with wonderful, passionate and caring people who make you glad you’re alive and got to meet them.

(The views and opinions on this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily represent EnAble India)

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Interview Preparation for people with disabilities

Varnavi intern at enable india - profile picture
Varnavi is an Intern from Christ University Bangalore, and has been interning with Enable India since April 2014. Coming from a Media and Communication background Varnavi is working on communicating the message of EnAble India to a wider audience.

Job interviews are usually the most intimidating and stressful experience for everyone who has ever attended one, but it is one of the best opportunities to make an impression on your employer and also stand out among other applicants.

For candidates with disabilities it is very important to prepare for the job interviews as the competition with non-disabled candidates who also might have better qualification will be fierce. Preparing for an interview helps to memorize everything you have learnt, it eases your anxiety and gives you confidence. Thorough preparation is a must to gain success in any interview.

  1. Before applying for a job interview it is very important to understand what domain or field interests in accordance with your qualifications. Try and develop the set of skills that are required to obtain the aspired job.
  2. Most of the company’s HR’s choose who to interview based on their resumes. Resume is nothing but a summary of who you are, your skills, your qualifications, your past and present work experiences. A resume should always be neat, precise and to the point, and written according to the field you are apply for. It is very important to keep your resume well updated.
  3. Before the job interview it is very important to research the companies background and learn what their company stands for and their future goals. If required you should be ready to talk about the functioning of the company in depth and about the position you are applying for. The company’s website, annual reports or news articles regarding them can be used to do research in detail.
  4. Prepare answers for the expected question from the interviewers like – “What is your goal in life?”, “Where do you see yourself after the next 5 years?”, “Tell me something about yourself?”, “Why do you want to work for our company?”, “How do you think you are suitable for this position?” Also prepare for the questions which might be asked according to the domain, your qualifications and your work experiences.
  5. Prepare to answer the questions with confidence by practicing it with a friend or a family member. These mock interviews might help to understand how your answers sound and how to improve them. You can also get feedback from your friends on how to improve your answers.
  6. On the interview day dress in your best formals, be punctual and arrive in your best condition. Be courteous towards everyone during the interview, and keep your answers honest, short and to the point.
  7. If you have any questions to the interviewer regarding the job location, salary etc, ask them in the end of the interview in a polite manner, and shake hands confidently with your interviewer before leaving.

 

Break the misconception & know the truth

Sudhanya is an Intern from Christ University Bangalore, interning at EnAble India in April/May 2014. From a media studies, communication background. She is working with EnAble India providing social media assistance in-order to reach a wider audience.

Misconceptions are barriers that interfere with the ability of people with disabilities to have equality in employment. Lack of awareness promotes negative attitudes concerning employment of people with disabilities. Some of these common stereotypes and misconceptions which are floating in our society must change:

Misconception: People with disability need our sympathy and pity

Truth: Frequently we find society perceiving disability as a tragedy such that persons with disability fall into the pit of sympathy. It is important to understand that sympathy & pity is something which will break an individual’s confidence to be independent & self-reliant. Motivating people with disability will encourage them to face any challenges in life and to follow their dreams.

Misconception: Disability is a sickness

Truth: The word ‘disability’ itself is often attached to negative stigma of an incapability to do something. The question is can disability be labeled as a sickness? Can disability be labeled as incapability or lack of ability? If that is true, then how did people like Beethoven create the most beautiful symphonies, even though he couldn’t hear any of his own music? How then did Helen Keller describe the beauty of the world and the lovely music of nature, without seeing or hearing? If Beethoven and Helen Keller can do beyond the impossible, then disability as such cannot be labeled as a kind of sickness but a challenge to achieve.

Misconception: People with disability are special

Truth: Frequently we see that people with disability are called special or being different. It is important to understand how we would term the word ‘disability’. Being disabled does not stop anyone from doing certain things, though it’s true that things are done differently. Does doing things differently mean being special or being unique?

Misconception: People with disability need our protection

Truth: There is nothing wrong in being protective and concerned for anyone. It only becomes a problem when we get over-protective. This would obstruct anyone’s opportunity to do things on their own & to be self-reliant.

Misconception: People with disability are super-heroes

Truth: Often, disability is seen as a tragedy of life and surviving is a great inspiration. It is important to understand that everyone is the superhero of his/her own life. By facing all the obstacles in life, we make our own life an inspirational story.

Misconception: People with disability always need to be dependent on others

Truth: Everyone is dependent on each other, in some way or the other. It’s human nature that no one can be alone. Though it may be true that there are some people with disability who are dependent on others, it is not necessary to stereotype every person with disability as always being dependent on others. As many people with disability are also able to live independently.

Misconception: It’s easy to accidentally offend a person with disability when speaking to him

Truth: It’s important that we be polite while talking to anyone and, to ensure that we are not rude to anyone.

Misconception: People in wheelchairs have restricted mobility

Truth: Today’s highly mobile world, where we use different kinds of transportation like cars, bikes, buses, trains, etc. to reach anywhere, has almost made us forget that we can walk to places. Can the mere existence of legs be termed as being mobile? Hence, being on a wheelchair can never be termed completely as restricted mobility. Mobility is only restricted by the barriers we place in front of people

Misconception: People with disability only socialize with other people with disability

Truth: It’s true that everyone likes to be with people who share similar characteristics. But it doesn’t mean that people with disabilities restrict their company only with other people with disability. Most people with disability have family and friends who are not disabled.

Misconception: People with disability have no sense of humor

Truth: Sense of humor merely means the ability to appreciate humor. Everyone likes to be comical and people with disability are no different. Hence, sense of humor is not something restricted to a few people.

These are just a few of the misconceptions we have about people with disability. It’s important that we give a thought about how disability is being portrayed in the society, before having assumptions about it.

(The views and opinions expressed above do not necessarily reflect that of EnAble India.)

EnAble India partners with State Bank of India

 

Small profile picture of PraneshPranesh Nagri is the honorary director of EnAble India.

I joined Enable India in April 2011. I started with volunteering, just going through whatever was on the server. It introduced me to Enable India right from the days of its inception. What wonderful work done by Madam Shanti Raghavan and later continued with the efforts of Mr. Dipesh Sutariya and supported by the earliest student and now a senior staff member Ms. Vidya Rao.

At the time of my joining Enable India I was in a discussion with State Bank of India on inclusion of persons with disabilities enrolled by them and never truly employed. State Bank of India is a huge bank, a company to the Govt of India holding the treasury and thus is an important financial structure in the banking fraternity of modern India. As a result of reservation of one per cent posts for persons with disability this and other banks have been enrolling persons with disability on the rolls of the bank. Just because the Banks believe that the persons with disability cannot work in a bank the thus enrolled work force remains without work, non-remunerative. State Bank of India requested Enable India to find out the possibilities of engaging this work force in the banking main stream. Enable India had already before my joining given a formal consent to State Bank of India and had undertaken to work in the area of finding a solution. Thus the team Murali consisting of Murali Kumar and Shiva started working on inclusion of the persons employed by State Bank of India.It was wonderful for me to understand the subject of Human Resources in Banks from disability point of view. The concept of Job Analysis, profiling the employees and customising and designing work processes for them was challenging but of course satisfying.

After an initial analysis of jobs we identified some 19 roles that we said will be performed by the persons with disabilities in state bank of India. We put up a proposal to State Bank of India for piloting the training programme aimed at converting this non-remunerative work force in to a remunerative one. State Bank of India accepted the proposal and thus started the first training with a batch of 20 Visually impaired persons at State Bank Learning Centre at Baswanguddi Bangalore.

The successful completion of this training opened up the possibilities of continuing with the programmes and even training the State Bank trainers for conducting such trainings on their own. Thus, Enable India did a capacity building training programme in the shape of a “training the trainers” programme. State Bank of India has partnered with Enable India in a number of batches being trained under the process. The employees who were thought to be non-remunerative are performing human resource as on today working and managing the HAPPY ROOM (Complaint Cell), ASSET TRACKING CELLS, PASS BOOK PRINTING, GRAHAK MIRTRA SEAT, RECIEPT AND PAYMENTS (LOW VISION PERSONS) and many other seats in the branch and administrative offices. As of today we have proposed to open a centre of Excellence in Banking for State Bank of India which will look after training and employment in respect of persons with disability aiming at being a world class facility in this area.

On 26th April 2014 Enable India entered in to an agreement with three RSETTI institutions of State Bank of India for providing training to persons with disability looking for wage employment and self employment. The agreement was exchanged by Ms. Shanti Raghavan in presence of an august gathering of senior bankers at State Bank of India led by their chairperson Madam Arundhati Bhattacharya . On the occasion two publications of Enable India namely GET INSPIRED –WORKING PROFESSIONALS WITH DISABILITY, BE AN ETHICAL WORKING PROFESSIONAL WITH DISABILITY.

THANK YOU SBI. I AM FEELING PROUD OF INDIAN BANKS.

A perfect business case – employing persons with disability

 Small profile picture of Pranesh Pranesh Nagri is the honorary director of EnAble India

 

 

 

The real art of discovering consists not in finding new lands but seeing with new eyes –Marcel Proust. We treat people on the basis of what we know about them or what we believe we know about them. And over the period of time we tend to live with our perceived notions. This is what forms the basis of our social interactions. The beliefs are so strong that we utilise them in our basic business decisions too.

In respect of disability we have since long lived with dogmas and a set of beliefs which we do not seem to be ready to change with. When a business man looks at disability what does he see? In most of the cases the businessman will see charity or a potential problem and not a potential customer. The world of business has never considered a person with disability as a potential customer. Had it been so the business setup would have made itself ready to meet the demands of this sector. The same is the case with the governments. The persons with disabilities are seen as needy recipients. Whenever they approach they are looked up to as a group needing social support or financial assistance. Thus the attention of the authorities in power ends up in a wheel chair or a few hundred rupees as assistance or a subsistence fund.

The WHO Action plan 2006-11 says that 10 percent population in world experiences some form of disability or impairment. Due to increase in population the number of people with disability is growing. That would very safely account for the largest minority. If it is so then in a country like India, looking at the population growth pattern the growth in disability sector should be significant. Lack of early intervention, environmental issues and social beliefs contribute to this growth significantly. If this is so then why does the business community not have a clear strategy of marketing to this huge group of population? If we look to banking sector hardly any branch is disability friendly in India. At least there is no such claim being made by any bank. Instead the banks are still reluctant in opening accounts and providing a financially inclusive atmosphere to persons with disability particularly the visually impaired.

Therefore if a shift in the focus will take place the whole scenario will change. When the focus will be on capabilities and abilities of the persons with disability a shift will occur in thought and action. Instead of seeing a case for charity the businesses will start to see immense possibilities in a person with disability. A customer will be visible, a business opportunity will emerge. Instead of seeing a case for assistance and subsistence a case of involvement will be seen.

When we thus speak of better education and gainful employment for the persons with disability we are speaking of benefits for everyone. A gainful employment will be possible only by providing equal opportunity through solutions. Thus equal opportunity provided and this huge human resource pool gainfully employed will help in economic growth. If we are not looking at recruiting the persons with disability to fill our job vacancies we may be missing on a great opportunity of tapping the huge potential available that can shape and change the economic scene of the country. The persons with disability form 18 Percent of the working age population. Businesses that have employed the persons with disabilities have confirmed that they would like to employ more and they do continue to employ more. Persons with disability are as reliable and as productive as anybody else. Let us understand the employment of persons with disability not as a charity but a perfect business case beneficial to everyone.

 

Make It Happen – 5 jobs you thought people with disability couldn’t do

Varnavi intern at enable india - profile pictureVarnavi is an Intern from Christ University Bangalore, and has been interning with Enable India since April 2014. Coming from a Media and Communication background Varnavi is working on communicating the message of EnAble India to a wider audience. Input for this article from Priyanka Garg, a current EnAble India trainee.

Make It Happen – 5 jobs you thought people with disabilities couldn’t do

Often people with disabilities are considered special, different from others and are hence thought of as not sufficient for certain core jobs. But with the right technological support, daily practice of required skills we can achieve targets and realise dreams. Some examples of jobs being completed by disabled people:

  1. Medicine. Many assume that a person with disability cannot possibly handle a very attentive, accurate and complex job like that of a Doctor. Saving lives, serving the society can be done if you have strong will and determination, it is not limited to any faction of the society, and this fact was proven by many like Dr. Y G Parameshwara, the first Visually Impaired Indian to become a doctor and practice medicine. Dr. Satendra Singh, who was infected with polio at the age of nine but went on to complete his MBBS degree, then completing his MD in physiology and is noted for his efforts in accessibility of public places for the disabled.
  1. Banking and Finance.The banking and money related jobs are often considered tricky for the Visually Impaired and Hearing impaired people, as there is a perception that they can’t identify or comprehend the complex math behind money management. This misconception was cleared to us by Ashish Goyal, the winner of India’s National Award for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in 2010. Ashish was also the first Visually Impaired student at Wharton Business School, Philadelphia, he now works as a trader and a Risk Manager at JP Morgan’s Chief Investment Office. Ashish makes use of screen reader software to check his e-mails, read research reports and look at presentations, also the two computer screens on his desk, show flashing messages and spreadsheets of constantly changing financial figures linked to headphones, which read out to him in rapid speed. Another area where visually impaired may have faced a problem is in handling cash transactions. They can overcome this effectively by using new technological innovations like Cash Counting Machine, this machine helps the visually impaired not only count cash but also to check whether the currency is real or fake. EnAble India has placed more than 50 physically impaired, hearing impaired, visually impaired people in world renowned banks like State Bank of India, Goldman Sachs, ANZ and Deutsche Bank.
  1. Sports is a field where the people with disability are often not considered, but people like Marla Runyan, an American prolific runner who was the first competitor of Olympic as blind and has been a three time national champion in the women’s 5000 meters is changing perception. Devendra Jhajharia, a physically impaired with an amputated hand, a gold medal winner for Javelin throw in the 2004 summer Paralympics, has shown to the world that his disabilities don’t hinder his enthusiasm and passion for preferred sport.
  1. Hospitality.People often think that Visually Impaired can’t be good managers due to inability to “see” particular issues. Therefore visually impaired persons can’t open any restaurant. But to open any restaurant you need to know the following things like, where to open it, what to cook, what is the current trend, what is the food culture of the place, who is the target customer and how to gather effective man power to do that work. If you are able to achieve these, then no one can stop you from starting your restaurant. One such attempt is the ‘Dark Dine Invisible’ restaurant in Bengaluru which is managed by the visually impaired, the restaurant tries to make the costumers experience dining in the darkness.

Check the link below to know more about the ‘Dark Dine Invisible’ :   http://www.timeoutbengaluru.net/restaurants-caf%C3%A9s/features/see-change

  1. Dance. For a person with physical disability dancing is a big challenge, but with her strong will and passion for dance, Sudha Chandran who lost her leg in an accident accomplished to become a notable Indian classical dancer. She also has been actively involved in acting on television and in movies.

These are just a few stories which prove that disability cannot stop anyone from achieving his/her dreams. Whatever society thinks is impossible for the disabled person is possible, because impossible itself means “I M Possible”.

5 “Game-changers” for people with disabilities in the workplace

At EnAble India we believe in possibilities!

Every disabled person can add value to their community, workplace & family. Technology allows us to make more and more workplaces accessible for people with disabilities. Changes in the last few years have opened up lots of job roles for people with disabilities

  1. Screen reader – Screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA & Voice-over (MAC) allow the visually impaired to work on most applications, navigating all the important business tools such as the Microsoft office suite (Word, Excel & PowerPoint). EnAble India has trained hundreds of visually impaired candidates in using screen readers, allowing them to go on to employment in companies such as IBM, Thomson Reuters & DeutscheBank. EnAble India has created a dual sided headset, enabling visually impaired workers to use the same headset for listening to screen readers & answering the phone.

  1. Speech recognition – For people who cannot use their hands, speech recognition software enables people to give instructions to the computer with their voice – It can open programs, create emails, copy and paste, data entry, everything you can normally do. This technology is ideal for people who cannot use their hands on the keyboard. The speech recognition software that comes standard with windows software allows for a speech profile to be created, the software will learn the users’ speech pattern the more it is used. This software is a “game-changer” for people with physical disabilities with limited or no mobility in their hands and arms as well as people with cerebral palsy.

  1. Currency reader – EnAble India has created a device that reads out the value of notes, it allows visually impaired people to handle currency transactions. This opens up a huge array of jobs that have cash transactions involved. Previously, visually impaired candidates have been excluded from roles where there has been some element of handling cash. With the currency reader, the visually impaired can understand how much cash is being handled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NALD_sT-0Z4&feature=youtu.be

  1. Camera mouse. This software uses built-in cameras to track the user’s eye movements, allowing the user to move the cursor and click by blinking. A game changer for people with physical disabilities and peoplewith severe disabilities.
  1. Customized keyboards and mouse – Allows people with physically disabilities and people with Cerebral Palsy to use keyboards and mouse more easily and with greater accuracy. The keyboards & mouse are adjusted in size and shape to make it easier to manage. Depending on the nature of the disability, some candidates are able to perform at levels similar to, or better, than their non-disabled colleagues.

Love & belief can conquer acid – Haseena’s story

 

Happy International Women’s Day! We at EnAble India wish to celebrate the spirit of an independent Indian woman with the story of Haseena, a woman with amazing courage, confidence and compassion.

At the age of 21, Haseena became a victim of an acid attack and this attack caused her to lose her vision completely. For 10 years, she had to undergo 35 surgeries to reconstruct her face and body and she underwent immense counselling to help her get over the trauma. She was in and out of hospitals and never stepped out of her home to go anywhere else. She was not in touch with the outside world.

At Enable India, Haseena found hope. Her initial days were a trying time for both the trainers and herself. Coming out of her home was a culture shock. Because of the amount of time spent in the hospitals, she never got the opportunity to meet and mingle with people. Her world was black and white. She expected perfect behaviour from everyone she met, with no room for disappointment. We were worried about her job since every job requires interaction and team work. We wanted her to have a full life with friends and family. We believed in her potential. With the love and support of the Enable India trainers, she came out of her shell and learnt to mingle with others and made several friends. One of her first outings was to a park and she even joined the excursion to Nandi Hills with her family and friends. With EnAble India’s encouragement, she learnt to enjoy life and realised even “Haseena can smile”. What changed her life was voluntary work where she had to collect clothes for flood victims where she had to reach out to other people. Volunteering helped her to reconnect with her relatives and friends, with whom she hadn’t spoken to for a long time. The trainers recall when she had to do her presentation in front of a crowd regarding her volunteer work. It was an emotional moment because we had never seen her speak in front of an audience.

The Haseena of today, has become fully confident and independent. In her words, she is not a victim.

She is now working as a stenographer in a government department. She applied for a government job and using assistive technology, she proved to the officials that she could be a productive resource to the government sector.

After losing her vision, Haseena had been scared to walk alone. Her mother had to take her everywhere. During the initial training days, she used to arrive by auto because she was afraid to travel by public transport. With the mobility training, she is now independent and walks to her office all by herself.

Haseena’s tremendous courage had touched the lives of a lot of people. She has earned the respect of her community. She counsels many people who are in depression and has helped many others in need. She has even successfully counselled people with suicidal tendencies. She is actively working towards empowerment of acid attack victims. To prove that she too can lead the same life as others, she does her daily activities independently. She cooks, hangs out with friends, supports her family, fights for justice, and is the role model of a truly independent woman with dignity.

See the article about Haseena in the Hindu: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/with-sheer-grit-haseena-moves-on/article5761533.ece

Thinking Different

Shanti Raghavan, founder of EnAble India, speaking at NASSCOM 2007, gives very simple and lucid examples of Workplace Solutions – innovations that open doors in more ways than one – and how it adds value to the company.

[This is a video posted on YouTube, and you will need your speakers on. A transcript follows]

TRANSCRIPT:

Now just to give you an example of what a workplace solution is – I’m using a non-IT example because it drives the point home.

Customer service attendant at Shell. He has to talk to customers, and provide service like filling petrol.

Now, can this be done by a hearing impaired person? Is this a job opportunity?

Well, if you think a little differently, that his goal is to communicate, not to talk necessarily, then the answer is simple. What we have, we’ve designed with the help of Shell, we’ve designed a wipable communication board which the hearing impaired person has. He has this thing which says Hi, I’m hearing impaired, and he has this board, and the board is very simple. All you do is you tick: I want petrol, these many rupees and you tick Credit Card or whatever. It’s efficient, and you and the hearing impaired person have communicated to each other.

That’s a workplace solution, and it’s this powerful. And see the innovation, but so simple.

And what’s the result? Shell has therefore more candidates it can choose from, and there are more job opportunities, now, for the hearing impaired, which didn’t exist before. And because of this, we’ve been able to scale with Shell. We’ve gone to Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and in fact, I’m doing it right now, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, and it’s growing. So that is how powerful it can be, just with one solution, this is what we can achieve.

I’ll give you, very quickly, an IT example, ITES example actually.

A technical helpdesk person is a co-ordinator, who takes information saying that – Oh you have a problem with your computer, you have a problem with your Citrix, notes it down in a Web-tracker or something, a mechanism like that, and then does a follow-up and co-ordination.

Now is this a job that can be done by the visually impaired?

Well, they have to “see” the computer. Or is the goal that he should “use” the computer? If the answer is Yes, use the computer, then there is accessible technology. We just need the workplace solution on how it can be done differently. There are screen-readers for the blind, which allow the computer, in very simple terms, to be a talking computer. So he or she can use the computer just like you or me. Add to that, the fact that he has to talk to the customer and he has to listen to the computer… Very simple; what we did was, we actually provided him with a hands-free headset. In one ear, he’s hearing the customer’s voice, in the other he’s hearing the computer voice, and he can shut the computer voice at any time. So here’s a solution that he has.

Is this all that’s required?

We said the second thing was that he requires a barrier-free environment. So what is a barrier? During training, he needs accessible training material. If there’s a Powerpoint presentation, and he doesn’t have access to it, what do we do? So we have different ideas for that. We could have given it to him in Braille, we could have given a scanner and an Optical Character Recognizer and he could read it, or we could just give it to him in soft copy, and he can use the talking computer and listen to the material.

And what we chose, in this case at least, was the soft copy – it was the easiest. So now he has less barriers in his environment.

The last was – during his working, he needs to use the Web-tracker and that should be accessible for him.

[interruption]

So, to have a web-tracker which is accessible, we have some people from Accessibility here, they will tell you that if there are graphics which are labelled, they are not accessible for a screen-reader. So that is all we needed to do, we needed to make sure the Web-tracker is accessible, and what you have is less barriers. So here again is a job opportunity that has actually materialized, for a visually impaired person.

I’m not going to go into this case study – I thought Jerry was going to be here, so I actually had a case study on Mphasis, on how we’re working with them and in the IT department, in their shared services ITES, we are already working with them, and there are many other things in the pipeline.

So the debate is about whether it is CSR policy or economic principle. I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle, but I’ll just share my thoughts with you.

When you first become open to disability, I think you’re somewhere at the CSR policy level. When you start doing a focused hiring on disability, and you start getting some candidates – at least you had more candidates than before, so definitely you are seeing value there. When you start doing workplace modifications, the solution is feasible and you agree with it, and so you are open to more disabilities, then, I think it becomes more economically viable. And as your workforce steadily has more people, percentage of people with disability, it makes sense. The model that we are seeing, when we collaborate closely with companies – do all these workplace solutions and barrier free environments, and we spread to multiple locations, companies are really seeing a value. And a lot of companies I showed in the slide earlier, they are seeing benefits because of these collaborations.

I’ll leave you with the last point.

Maybe it’s Utopia, but the fact is that you help to create a bigger pool of tomorrow’s candidates, who know that oh, there are companies out there who will take me if I have the right skills. More importantly, because you have started getting inclusive, your products get inclusive. For example, there could be a bank with an ATM and now you’ve built a ramp and they have the ATM as a talking ATM and that’s helping a person who’s blind, who can actually use the ATM. So now here you have one more consumer, who’s using your product, but more importantly, there’s a multiple benefit. The person who’s old also needs ramps these days. The person who’s illiterate – nowadays I see a lot of garment workers going to the ATM and they have to use it, and they are illiterate – so suddenly your inclusive product is also helping somebody whom you didn’t think it would help.

So I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle, but maybe Utopia can also be reached.

Thank you.