Definitely Abled

These young people are among the thousands who got trained in customised vocational skills and computer operation and got placement in various sectors. What sets them apart from the hordes of others who get training across this country is that they are Persons with Disability (PwD), the so-called handicapped people. And the organisation that trained them is Youth4Jobs, an agency specialising in market-linked vocational skill development programme for PwD, equipping them for a much-deserved place under the corporate sun.

"Addressing vulnerable population's needs has been something we have always worked on. But, we wanted to do the most challenging thing and started looking around at the existing programmes for People with Disabilities," explains Meera Shenoy, Founder, Youth4Jobs. Meera, a noted development expert with rich experience in skill development and employment generation, found that the existing facilities were those of rehabilitation, therapy and generic training through time-bound courses. "These programmes were not attuned to the markets, they did not understand the market dynamics. And, few of them actually resulted in jobs in the organised sector."

Started off as a tentative attempt to plug the gaps in the training and employment generation infrastructure for the disabled, Youth4Jobs realised that it was faced with a much bigger challenge. The team discovered it was not just the absence of training that impeded this population segment, but deeply ingrained indifference and negative attitudes, a lack of sensitivity towards their needs in society and lack of comprehension of their untapped potential.

When parents brought their sons/daughters to Y4J for training, it was with a big question mark, a scepticism if something can actually be made of the 'useless child' of theirs, Meera recalls. And, tragically, it was not just the parents but the youngsters themselves who completely lacked faith in their abilities. Such was the shadow of their limited disability over their unbounded potential.

The Y4J team had a mission on its hands. Not just teaching the young people market-oriented skills but also to stand them in a good stead when faced with the big, bad world where competitiveness was harsh, standards exacting and employers merciless. "We wanted to train them in such a way that we could tell an organisation 'come and look for yourselves. These human resources are as good as any others.' Our emphasis was on their low attrition rate and their high productivity."

They then took the second big step of partnering with organisations that had openings but have never probably tried out this special set of human resources. And the partnerships turned out to be most fruitful. Companies such as Max, McDonald's, KFC, Shoppers' Stop, HyperCity, Tata's, Tanishq, Gitanjali Jewels partnered with Y4J, providing jobs to the trainees in varied sectors, including retail stores and restaurants where physical handicap is seen as a disadvantage and an irritant.

EFX Prasad Corporation, a division of the famed Prasad's institutions, was among the first organisations that took the good work forward. The Restoration & Stereo Imaging Division of the Corporation took a bold step, recruiting almost 30 people with hearing and speech disability and trained them to become members of a team that works on restoration of old films. How did this decision come about? "We actually had requirement at that time.

The only difference is we decided to do the recruitment falling in line with the philosophy of our institution, combining philanthropy with professional requirements," explains Chandra Sekhar Kambala, Operations Manager (regional) of Restoration & Stereo Imaging Division, EFX Prasad Corporation.

Kambala did extensive research on the employability of PwD and made special efforts to have customised training materials prepared. "We had given them training in all the skills needed for this job, from use of the computer mouse to colour theory training. We had many visual aids for the purpose." The Corporation, which spent a decent amount on training this group, says it is not at all disappointed with the results.

"Attrition is lower and, going beyond their disability, they are no less than any regular human resource," adds Kambala. He admits to some issues, such as gaps in communication, practical problems such as requiring an interpreter almost all the time until their own staff were trained in rudimentary sign language. "It is just a matter of gaining their trust and then it was smooth sailing as the non-serious ones in any case have been filtered in the first weeks of free training.

" And colleagues and supervisors at the Restoration division echo the feeling, saying that they hardly remember that this group is any different from themselves. EFX Prasad aims to have at least half of their headcount from the PwD segment, even as they have certain plans to upscale the skills and position of even the existing staff.

The needs of the people with disability, be it speech, hearing, sight or physical, are not too extraordinary but it is a tough challenge for them to live a normal life with minimal assistance due to lack of support mechanisms. Lack of decent education, professional opportunities, unfriendly physical environment, dogmatic social attitudes - many are the barriers that the disabled have to cross before they can find themselves their share of the pie.

It is worse for girls, everyone agrees. Innumerable are the cases where husbands have deserted their wives blaming them for giving birth to a handicapped child, where parents themselves are disabled in some way and hence unable to take care of their kids properly. Security, social acceptance, marriage are big issues that make life near impossible for the girl.

"I do not even remember my father, he left us when I was just two. Because he blamed my mother for my disability. My mother did tailoring work and brought me up until she had a paralytic stroke a couple of years ago. I now have a job and have an income. I want to spend my life taking care of my mother," Spandana, a speech and hearing impaired girl asserts.

Her father's betrayal has left her permanently wary of commitment to a marriage. "In any case, we have no money to even have a marriage ceremony. Why bother?" Spandana signals with a rueful smile. The bigger challenge is to find a suitable spouse, considering that the community prefers someone 'like them' rather than 'normal'.

Youth4Jobs works both in rural and Municipal areas, partnering with the Government as well as the corporate sector. It focuses on youngsters from underprivileged families and girls and has made its mandate to get them jobs only in the organised sector. During the last few years, Y4J trained more than 3300 young PwD, of whom 70 per cent have been placed in the organised sector.

Forty per cent of them are girls and they are spread across telecom, BPO, manufacturing, retail, hospitality and other sectors. "We want them to have all the benefits, such as pensions, PF and medical benefits. We have started more training institutes, two in Bangalore, one in Mumbai, one in Ahmedabad and one soon in Chennai. We want to hold company sensitive workshops, persuading them to open up the markets to this new human resource base. Eventually, we even want to address the issue of inclusive schooling," says Meera Shenoy.

Disability is not as bad in its physical reality as it is in its social interpretation. Most people with disabilities would agree that the actual physical handicap is far less restrictive than the way it is perceived and treated by others. And that India is yet to go a long mile before it can create a barrier-free environment, an inclusive education system, an equal opportunity employer base, an accommodative social system and a people with tolerance for the disability and respect for the equalness of a human being. And, it appears, the Y4J initiative is helping make rapid strides towards that goal.