International Day of Persons with Disabilities

The United Nations Organisation (UN) has declared 3^rd December as the ’International Day of Persons with Disabilities’.

The UN’s website reveals some staggering facts:

· There are one billion people in the world with a disability.

· 80% of people with disabilities live in developing countries.

· 46% of people over the age of 60 have a disability.

· One in 10 children will grow up with some form of disability.

These statistics only remind us of one thing- there is much to be done to bring persons with disabilities into the mainstream and sharpen our focus on disability inclusion to ensure they live a fulfilled life. A shift in mindset will have us think of creative ways of ensuring that the content we create, can be easily accessed by those with disabilities. Closed Captioning (CC) content is an outcome of this very shift in mindset.

Developing content which portrays persons with disabilities in key roles, signifies empathy, avoids stereotyping and destigmatises disability, All these aspects will collectively go a long way in building an inclusive social milieu.

At SPN, we are continuously seeking ways to build an equitable and inclusive environment, be it through the content we create and broadcast or our D&I and CSR initiatives.

SPN’s “Bring Your Own Self” philosophy emphasises that employees with disability be provided with a work environment that is comfortable and easily accessible so that they can focus on truly being themselves and give their best to the organisation.

We also strive to champion inclusivity outside of SPN. We are in the second year of a partnership with IIT Madras, which works on developing, prototyping and producing two wearable assistive devices for persons with disabilities. The first device, Vibe, alerts a person with hearing impairment about a​ specific sound like the doorbell, or a crying child, or a milk cooker. A cell phone is the input device that processes the sounds and triggers a vibration on the person's wrist.​ A second device, iGest will be a wearable device that recognizes the gestures of persons with limited motor skills. The inertial motion unit sensors sense and send the output to a cell phone. IIT Madras has collected user requirements for both the devices and is conducting studies to select hardware components to optimize product quality. In a couple of years from now, we would have played a significant role in developing an innovative, low-cost solution that would ensure a better life for persons with disabilities.

We support the GoSports Foundation through their Para Champion programme and have been doing so for several years now. This programme is targeted at differently-abled athletes to prep them for competitions including the Paralympics. 21 athletes from this programme represented India at the recently concluded Tokyo Paralympics. The intervention includes Physiotherapy, Sports Nutrition, Mental Conditioning, periodic blood tests, competition logistics and registration among others. We will be commemorating 3^rd December this year through an interactive session with some of these para-athletes on our Breaking Barriers – Fireside Chat. I cannot wait to hear their stories of how they overcame challenges and have channelised all their energies towards excelling in their area of sports.

Another important initiative is being implemented through Akhandjyoti, an organisation that conducts free restorative cataract eye surgeries in Eastern UP. This is our second year of partnership and we are supporting them in carrying out over 4500 sight-restoring eye surgeries for visually impaired persons from marginalised communities.

This is just the beginning, and we recognise that a lot more needs to be done. At SPN CSR we will focus our efforts in the coming years to incubate many more such initiatives. To quote the poet Robert Frost – “… the woods are lovely, dark and deep. But (we) have promises to keep. And miles to go before (we) sleep.”

Disclaimer: Views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the blog are solely that of the author, and not necessarily of Sony Pictures Networks India and/or its subsidiaries and affiliates.