Able Disabled All People Together (Formerly Spastics Society of India) had their Job Fair, on Saturday the 12th April at their Bandra Centre. Ther
e was a Seminar followed by, interviews conducted by some leading corporates of India.
A cross section of differently abled job aspirants donned their best smile and their confidence, with the firm intention of being Tax Payers not Tax spenders. Dr.Mithu Alur, founder chairperson of Spastics Society of India, was joined by Mrs. Poonam Natrajan-Chairperson (For the welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities –Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India, Phillip O’Keefe-World Bank Organization, in making the Seminar, a success.
Professionele Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. a leading human resource consultancy represented by Ms.Mahalakshmi.D.M, a trained counselor, supported the cause, by enabling these job aspirants to understand their be
st job fitments and present themselves to the interviewing companies representing corporate India. “Can I get a job with a stock broking firm?”, was the question which Shashank, asked. Shashank incidentally has a portfolio of investment which includes stocks like Colgate, RIL, and Tata Sons. How did he manage that? “Oh! I was working in the back office of Amol Broking, on a project basis”, he replied nonchalantly. Shashank is also an autistic aspirant, with speech disabilities.
Bharat Gajria, who is suffering from cerebral palsy, wants to be a graphic designer. He told Mahalakshmi, very confidently, “I can travel anywhere, alone. But I want to get a job in the field of commercial art.” When asked whether the disability would come in the way of desire, he grinned and said “Just ask them to try me out and they can see for themselves.”
What kind of support does the family and society need to provide for them? Firstly and foremostly b
e there as a part of the system, that accepts the disability and the disabled, felt Dr.Mithu Alur. Poonam Natrajan, felt that it is the socially upward section of society that has a problem in accepting a differently abled child. The lower strata of society, trains the rest of the family to accommodate and accept the child with the disability, thereby automatically creating a support system. Philip O’Keefe, who was questioned by Shishit( a polio afflicted person), who works as an assistant in a Legal foundation, whether the Multi national companies, were treating the developing countries differently, in providing support to the disabled, as a part of their CSR, admitted the same. Philip said it that the MNC’s were more supportive in the developed countries and sensitive to the needs of the physically disabled, than in India.
As a beginning, corpor
ate India pledged its support to work towards the same and provide opportunities for these aspirants in organizations. Some of the corporate participants were ITC –The Grand Central, Godrej Industries, Reliance Infocomm, Standard Chartered, Pantaloons, IBM etc. who had their teams from the Human resources, which found a fair measure of talent in these differently abled aspirants. In fact it was heartening to know, Standard Chartered has one of their taglines, which reads as “You see a Wheel chair, We see an Investment”.
So is corporate India willing to make the beginning in accepting them in their work space? Judging by their participation and contribution in making the job fair a success, it surely seemed so.
e was a Seminar followed by, interviews conducted by some leading corporates of India.A cross section of differently abled job aspirants donned their best smile and their confidence, with the firm intention of being Tax Payers not Tax spenders. Dr.Mithu Alur, founder chairperson of Spastics Society of India, was joined by Mrs. Poonam Natrajan-Chairperson (For the welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities –Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India, Phillip O’Keefe-World Bank Organization, in making the Seminar, a success.
Professionele Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. a leading human resource consultancy represented by Ms.Mahalakshmi.D.M, a trained counselor, supported the cause, by enabling these job aspirants to understand their be
st job fitments and present themselves to the interviewing companies representing corporate India. “Can I get a job with a stock broking firm?”, was the question which Shashank, asked. Shashank incidentally has a portfolio of investment which includes stocks like Colgate, RIL, and Tata Sons. How did he manage that? “Oh! I was working in the back office of Amol Broking, on a project basis”, he replied nonchalantly. Shashank is also an autistic aspirant, with speech disabilities.Bharat Gajria, who is suffering from cerebral palsy, wants to be a graphic designer. He told Mahalakshmi, very confidently, “I can travel anywhere, alone. But I want to get a job in the field of commercial art.” When asked whether the disability would come in the way of desire, he grinned and said “Just ask them to try me out and they can see for themselves.”
What kind of support does the family and society need to provide for them? Firstly and foremostly b
e there as a part of the system, that accepts the disability and the disabled, felt Dr.Mithu Alur. Poonam Natrajan, felt that it is the socially upward section of society that has a problem in accepting a differently abled child. The lower strata of society, trains the rest of the family to accommodate and accept the child with the disability, thereby automatically creating a support system. Philip O’Keefe, who was questioned by Shishit( a polio afflicted person), who works as an assistant in a Legal foundation, whether the Multi national companies, were treating the developing countries differently, in providing support to the disabled, as a part of their CSR, admitted the same. Philip said it that the MNC’s were more supportive in the developed countries and sensitive to the needs of the physically disabled, than in India.As a beginning, corpor
ate India pledged its support to work towards the same and provide opportunities for these aspirants in organizations. Some of the corporate participants were ITC –The Grand Central, Godrej Industries, Reliance Infocomm, Standard Chartered, Pantaloons, IBM etc. who had their teams from the Human resources, which found a fair measure of talent in these differently abled aspirants. In fact it was heartening to know, Standard Chartered has one of their taglines, which reads as “You see a Wheel chair, We see an Investment”.So is corporate India willing to make the beginning in accepting them in their work space? Judging by their participation and contribution in making the job fair a success, it surely seemed so.
