IIT Delhi observes international day for persons with disabilities

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi celebrated the International Day for Persons with Disabilities with the institute’s director V Ramgopal Rao. They also conducted a series of activities called "Challenging Challenges".

 

The activities were organised to sensitise and build empathy among people with no disabilities by giving them the feeling of the challenges faced by persons with disabilities in their daily lives and also value their abilities.

 

IIT Delhi aims to support students with disabilities and have launched ‘Office of Accessible Education (OAE)’ this year. The OAE has made a modest start over the past few months in providing support to such students. 

The Office of Accessible Education and the institute’s academic section are offering scribes and compensatory time to over 130 students on the campus. Along with the head of departments, the OAE has created a pool of scribes for this purpose. 

 

According to Rao, who’s also the director of the OAE, assistive devices will be available for those who need them. “We will conduct a survey among the students with disabilities about the kinds of assistive devices they need (wheelchairs, hearing aids, calipers, special mobile phones, etc). We have taken steps towards making our official website compliant with WGAC guidelines. The institute is also looking into providing mobility services on the campus to the disabled persons,” he said. 

Reetika Khera, associate dean, student welfare, IIT Delhi added, “In the coming year, we hope to work with IIT Delhi student bodies such as the NSS and BSW to create a pool of student volunteers who can help create accessible study materials and provide other support to persons with disabilities on the campus.”

 

According to IIT Delhi, persons with disabilities are supported by the institute’s community members, especially the students with disabilities who have come forward and helped generously. The Xavier's Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged has also been supporting the institute (pro bono), including providing intensive training to students, creating accessible study materials.