context: India has an estimated 70 million disabled people, most of them confined to their homes due to a complete lack of accessible infrastructure. Accessibility has been one of the most neglected issues in the disability sector in India – it is probably one of the crucial factors that can free up the potential of, and availability of opportunities for, disabled people.

who: the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) was registered as a Trust in 1996, with a Board of Management which has representation from industry, NGOs, disabled people and international agencies.

why: NCPEDP stresses the need to move away from traditionally held views of charity and welfare to those of productivity and empowerment of disabled people. The aim is to:

encourage the employment of disabled people;

increase public awareness on disability issues;

empower disabled people through appropriate legislation;

equip disabled people with educational opportunities;

ensure easy and convenient access to all public places.

access unit: NCPEDP’s Access Unit focuses on access-related issues and works towards:
-developing a joint action plan with access-related apex bodies such as the National Institute of Design, the Council of Architecture, etc, to create a National Access Institute; - creating a detailed plan for disabled-friendly bus transport, railways and airlines, and make transport in all the four metro cities disabled-friendly; - including disability in the Central and State building by-laws; - ensuring that new public buildings constructed are disabled-friendly (e.g.: partnering with the Council of Architecture to ensure that disability forms a part of the curriculum for future architects).

employment unit: the NCPEDP Employment Unit has been instrumental in raising employment-related issues at various forums. The Employment unit spearheads NCPEDP’s campaign to promote the employment of disabled people within corporate India*. The unit regularly organises seminars to bring together corporations and disability organisations to help find a way to employ disabled people.

The Employment Unit has been instrumental in getting the Confederation of Indian Industry to constitute a core group to evolve a policy on disability for the private sector. Cyber Media India Ltd, a leading Information and Communication Technology (ICT) publishing house, has run a campaign to sensitise the ICT sector.

opportunities: NCPEDP has put together not only lists of employment exchanges and placement centres, but also of the various employment schemes available (self-employment schemes, lists of employment exchanges for disabled persons, lists of vocational rehabilitation centres).

NCPEDP and Samsung have launched a placement division that actively identifies opportunities for persons with disabilities and helps in placements. You can post your resumes if you are seeking jobs or put in details of vacancies with your organisation if you are seeking candidates [e-mail: employment@ncpedp.org].

* The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) hired more than 50,000 disabled persons over a period of two years.