Re: [AI] Smelling perfumes: Some companies in Mumbai have started hiring blind employees, but not out of charity. Prasun Chaudhuri report

[Vamshi. G]

I understand this is a job that involves smelling perfumes.  But how
does it exactly help the company?  I mean, what does the company get
when a human being smell a perfume and note it down?  Can someone
explain?

On 3/14/17, avinash shahi  wrote:
> https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170312/jsp/7days/story_140269.jsp
>
> SWEET SCENT: At the College of Fragrance for the Visually Impaired, Mumbai
>
>
> Inside an odourless laboratory, Chanchal is engrossed in work. The
> countertops and shelves are lined with bottles of perfumes. From time
> to time, the 28-year-old picks up a thin strip of paper from a tray,
> sprays it with fragrance from one of the bottles and smells it with
> concentration for a minute or so. Then she turns to the computer next
> to her, keys in something, and moves on to another strip, another
> perfume.
>
> Chanchal is an assistant perfume evaluator with the Indian arm of a
> British fragrance company in Mumbai. She is also blind.
>
> Ever since she got the job five months ago, Chanchal has been doing
> this 60-kilometre each way commute from Ulhasnagar to Lower Parel five
> days a week. She claims she has found job satisfaction that eluded her
> when she worked at a call centre close to her home. "People were so
> indifferent there. Here, everyone treats me with respect. I am much
> better at my job than many of my sighted colleagues. Is job se khud ka
> ek status  ban gaya hai (This job has given me a newfound status)."
>
>
>
> India's 15 million blind are often left to fend for themselves despite
> the fact that there are laws that make it mandatory for government
> agencies to reserve at least three per cent jobs for people with
> disabilities. There are positions opening up in the private sector but
> whether these jobs actually do justice to the skill-set of a
> differently-abled person remains to be seen.
>
> Initially, fragrance companies also recruited the blind out of
> charity. But it did not take them long to figure out that blind
> employees have a heightened olfactory sense which they could put to
> use, a fact that has always been known but has now been empirically
> proven. A 2012 study published in the online journal Perfumer &
> Flavorist claims "the blind and visually impaired group were more than
> twice as likely to pass the industry standard smelling test as the
> normally-sighted control group".
>
> The natural advantage, however, does not preclude training. And so,
> the Blind Persons Association of India and the multinational company,
> CPL Aromas International, decided to come up with a structured
> training programme.
>
> Renuka Thergaonkar, head of the cosmetology and perfumery department
> at Mumbai's V.G. Vaze College was among those who designed the course
> offered at the College of Fragrance for the Visually Impaired - a
> non-profit initiative.
>
> At the College of Fragrance, selection happens after an "admission
> test" in which candidates have to establish that they recognise
> certain basic odours. Successful candidates then have to undergo a
> year's training. According to Thergaonkar, who has authored a book in
> Braille titled Introduction to Perfume, the course covers a lot of
> ground - psychology, communication, food tasting and, of course, a lot
> of exposure to all kinds of smells. Technology training includes the
> use of a software called JAWS (Job Access With Speech), basic
> documentation in computers and e-mailing.
>
> Alladin Sheikh and Ravi Vanniyar were identified by the Blind Persons
> Association of India and enrolled in the intensive course.
>
> Sheikh, who was born blind, has been working as a technical trainee at
> perfumers S.H. Kelkar for the past two years. He says, "I used to run
> a PCO before this. But phone booths went out of fashion and I was out
> of work." Vanniyar, who lost his eyesight due to a smallpox infection
> in childhood, checks quality in another fragrance firm, Anthea
> Aromatics. He was a hawker at a railway station.
>
> Rita Rego, manager, human resources and administration at CPL Aromas
> India is full of praise for her blind co
>
>
> --
> Avinash Shahi
> Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU
>
>
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[AI] Smelling perfumes: Some companies in Mumbai have started hiring blind employees, but not out of charity. Prasun Chaudhuri report

[avinash shahi]

https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170312/jsp/7days/story_140269.jsp

SWEET SCENT: At the College of Fragrance for the Visually Impaired, Mumbai


Inside an odourless laboratory, Chanchal is engrossed in work. The
countertops and shelves are lined with bottles of perfumes. From time
to time, the 28-year-old picks up a thin strip of paper from a tray,
sprays it with fragrance from one of the bottles and smells it with
concentration for a minute or so. Then she turns to the computer next
to her, keys in something, and moves on to another strip, another
perfume.

Chanchal is an assistant perfume evaluator with the Indian arm of a
British fragrance company in Mumbai. She is also blind.

Ever since she got the job five months ago, Chanchal has been doing
this 60-kilometre each way commute from Ulhasnagar to Lower Parel five
days a week. She claims she has found job satisfaction that eluded her
when she worked at a call centre close to her home. "People were so
indifferent there. Here, everyone treats me with respect. I am much
better at my job than many of my sighted colleagues. Is job se khud ka
ek status  ban gaya hai (This job has given me a newfound status)."



India's 15 million blind are often left to fend for themselves despite
the fact that there are laws that make it mandatory for government
agencies to reserve at least three per cent jobs for people with
disabilities. There are positions opening up in the private sector but
whether these jobs actually do justice to the skill-set of a
differently-abled person remains to be seen.

Initially, fragrance companies also recruited the blind out of
charity. But it did not take them long to figure out that blind
employees have a heightened olfactory sense which they could put to
use, a fact that has always been known but has now been empirically
proven. A 2012 study published in the online journal Perfumer &
Flavorist claims "the blind and visually impaired group were more than
twice as likely to pass the industry standard smelling test as the
normally-sighted control group".

The natural advantage, however, does not preclude training. And so,
the Blind Persons Association of India and the multinational company,
CPL Aromas International, decided to come up with a structured
training programme.

Renuka Thergaonkar, head of the cosmetology and perfumery department
at Mumbai's V.G. Vaze College was among those who designed the course
offered at the College of Fragrance for the Visually Impaired - a
non-profit initiative.

At the College of Fragrance, selection happens after an "admission
test" in which candidates have to establish that they recognise
certain basic odours. Successful candidates then have to undergo a
year's training. According to Thergaonkar, who has authored a book in
Braille titled Introduction to Perfume, the course covers a lot of
ground - psychology, communication, food tasting and, of course, a lot
of exposure to all kinds of smells. Technology training includes the
use of a software called JAWS (Job Access With Speech), basic
documentation in computers and e-mailing.

Alladin Sheikh and Ravi Vanniyar were identified by the Blind Persons
Association of India and enrolled in the intensive course.

Sheikh, who was born blind, has been working as a technical trainee at
perfumers S.H. Kelkar for the past two years. He says, "I used to run
a PCO before this. But phone booths went out of fashion and I was out
of work." Vanniyar, who lost his eyesight due to a smallpox infection
in childhood, checks quality in another fragrance firm, Anthea
Aromatics. He was a hawker at a railway station.

Rita Rego, manager, human resources and administration at CPL Aromas
India is full of praise for her blind co


-- 
Avinash Shahi
Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU


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