CHENNAI: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday said that artificial intelligence (AI) can play a great role in helping persons with disabilities (PwDs) realise their potential, even as he stressed on the need for more support from special educators and society for the deafblind community.
He was speaking at the third National Conference on Advocacy and Employment for the Deafblind, organised by the National Institute of Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD) in collaboration with NGOs at NIPMED, Kovalam.
Dhankhar expressed gratitude to readers, professionals, policymakers, and NGOs for their collective support to the deafblind. The participation of PwDs is crucial to building an inclusive government and Viksit Bharat, he said.
“There is no doubt that PwDs are divyang (divine), as Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly calls them,” said Dhankhar.
Lauding Indian para-athletes, he said their achievements prove that “disability is no hindrance to success”, citing icons like British cosmologist Stephen Hawking and Helen Keller (author and educator who overcame deafness and blindness). “You are the gifted ones with real vision and that vision is a precious jewel,” he added.