Tata Steel Foundation held a two-day event Sabal Sahyog, aimed at talks on the way forward to bring livelihood opportunities for persons with disabilities.

The event, held at the Tribal Culture Centre at Sonari, ended on Wednesday, with 50 participants, including physically challenged persons from all 24 districts of Jharkhand, and professionals who work for their welfare.

Tata Steel Sabal, formed with the aim to increase job opportunities among persons with disabilities, will now do a market survey on the demand of products which physically challenged persons can be trained to make.

Captain Amitabh Verma, head (skill development), Tata Steel CSR, said outfits like Enable India and NADE have made a lot of interventions in the area of jobs for the physically challenged. “So, without starting from scratch, we will share experiences, analyse each other’s methods and channel our strengths. We aim to start manufacturing units where the specially abled can get jobs, but only for products with demand,” Verma said.

Founder of Enable India Shanti Raghvan and NADE project manager Mahesh Nair discussed best practices.

Enable India skills the physically challenged to make them employable. NADE trains them to become self-employed with a range of products that include the famous Nethra umbrellas. Nair had a word of advice. “Always understand that people will buy a product (made by the specially abled) once out of sympathy, but quality will make them come again and again.”