BENGALURU: The room is brimming with enthusiasm as 12 differently-abled students gear up to start their virtual training in a few days. This bunch is already tech savvy and are now becoming adept at using Dropbox and Skype to work with each other and their trainers. Putting their inhibitions behind them, these students have come together with one goal in mind: to get trained, learn networking skills and corporate behaviour and make a living.
Redefine Abilities, conducted jointly by Enable India and EMC COE, is a three-day workshop, following which the students get to do a 10-month internship in the company, based on their respective skill sets. Helming the programme is Deepa Narasimhan from EMC COE, who is herself a person with ‘profound disability,’ as she puts it. She says, “I see these people not as physically challenged individuals but as people who can overcome their disabilities. This programme will help them realise their strengths and make use of them to make a mark in the corporate world.”
The trainers from Enable India, Muthuraj and Reena Kuttan, are excited, as this is the first time they are coaching such a diverse set of people. Confesses Muthu, “We have always divided our participants into groups based on their disabilities. This way it is easier to guide them using various assistive tools.” But this time, they have modified the model to make it more inclusive. He adds, “Each of them is different; each one comes with their own set of strengths and weaknesses. But the beauty of it is that by the end of the programme, they will learn how to work in a team. And that’s very important when working in a corporate organisation.”
Many in the group have no prior experience working in a corporate environment and see this as a stepping stone for a long-term career in the field. Gowthami, for instance, is an M Com graduate from Mysore University who had dreams of one day becoming an IAS officer or a chartered accountant.What proved a deterrent was her inability to walk. So she had to put her dreams on the backburner. But now, she says, “With this training, I can finally start working. I hope I will be able to realise that long-forgotten dream someday.”
Despite their shortcomings, what is heartening is that each and every one of them has the drive to prove to themselves and their families that they too can be part of the society, able to fend for themselves without being a burden.
Pradeep, a hearing and visually-impaired person who has worked with Rani Mukherjee in the movie Black, is a testament to this. Hailing from Kolkata, he prides himself on being the first in his family to travel by train to Bengaluru, that too alone. After he completes the training, he wants to settle down with a regular job and work towards realising his life goal. “My dream is to work with children who are challenged like me and teach them that they need not feel helpless because of their disabilities,” he smiles.