hi all, i would like o share a ews ith you. kindly avoid if you know about it.
Firm prepares blind for corporate world- 22-6-2008 MUMBAI: After years of grappling for a brighter future, Urvish Patel has finally seen light at the end of the tunnel. Urvish is blind in his right eye and suffers from 60% blindness in his other eye. The 25-year-old has landed himself a job at the global help desk in a BPO where he begins work shortly. Urvish was one of eight visually-impaired of the pilot batch for advanced computer training designed for the visually-impaired. The training was an initiative by the firm TCS Maitree. "Most jobs for the visually-impaired are in the informal sector. For years I worked as an office assistant but was not happy as I longed to be a part of the corporate world. However, with my disability I found it difficult to realise my dream," says Urvish. Urvish is the sole earning member of his family. His father is retired while his mother is a homemaker. From birth, he suffers from blindness in his right eye and a high fever at age 19 weakened the sight in his left eye. He completed college by recording notes or using a magnifying glass while studying or photocopying notes in huge fonts. Today, however, he feels vindicated. "The salary at my previous job was very less. I will now earn more than three times as much as I used to. I can proudly say that I have realised my dream and have made my parents proud," says a beaming Urvish. At the global help desk, Urvish will troubleshoot problems with the help of user-friendly software for the blind called JAWS. At present, the second batch of 16 visually-impaired students chosen from all over India are being trained at the M N Banajee Industrial Home for the Blind in Jogeshwari. They will be trained in IT infrastructure and service management, the BPO sector as well as in soft skills. Sporting a bright blue tee is 24-year-old Deepti Patelkhana from Hyderabad. Deepti worked as a medical transcriptor and is now attempting to gain knowledge about systems and system auditing. " I always had weak eyesight. A brain fever at age 10 followed by meningitis caused me to lose my vision completely. The doctors could retain some part of my vision only after an operation," she says. According to her, her ears now perform the function of eyes. "With the help of JAWS I can chat, email and even read a newspaper," says the girl. JAWS is a powerful software program designed to work with a speech synthesiser to improve the productivity level of the visually-impaired. After this course, Deepti hopes to join either the human resource department in the IT sector or a non-voice based BPO. Geetanjali Shinde, a behavioural trainer at the centre says working with the visually-impaired is fun. "They are very enthusiastic and intellectually stimulated. They are very curious, passionate and opinionated." Also working closely with the batch is Nina Screwvalla, global head of TCS Maitree. Screwalla says that being with these special people is inspiring, "Their enthusiasm for life is infectious and after this training they will be on par with people like us." Founder of Maitree, Mala Ramadorai says that the training will ensure that these visually-impaired will require no concessions." Concessions at the physical level is understandable but not at the competence level," she says. Of the eight persons in the pilot batch, six are placed at various corporate houses, while the other two didn't opt for employment. The present batch will finish training in a month's time and are enthusiastic to take on the corporate world. regards, prateek garwal. cell: 09928341197 e-mails: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
