----- Original Message -----
From: "Leon Gilbert" <BlindNews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Blind News Mailing List" <BlindNews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2005 5:04 AM
Subject: BlindNews: Helen Keller Awards 2005 announced
Deccan Herald, India Saturday, November 12, 2005
Helen Keller Awards 2005 announced
New Delhi, UNI: A woman who became paralysed down her waist at 16 but went on to support 12,000 fellow disabled people and the country's first blind computer engineer who is developing a software to help the blind 'read' computer screens are among the winners of Helen Keller Awards for 2005.
A woman who became paralysed down her waist at 16 but went on to support 12,000 fellow disabled people and the country's first blind computer engineer who is developing a software to help the blind 'read' computer screens are among the winners of Helen Keller Awards for 2005.
Naseema Hurzuk of NGO 'Helpers of the Handicapped' in Kolhapur, Maharashtra and Harsh Kumar P Kotian are also joined by S Sankara Raman, a wheelchair-borne accountant who left his lucrative practice to build a "valley" for unempoyed people with disabilities in winning the award instituted by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP).
'Helpers of the Handicapped' founded by Ms Hurzuk, who lost use of the lower half of her body in an accident, runs a residential school, a treatment, rehabilitation and training centre, a gas agency and an integrated village at Morai near Kudal.
She is a member of the committee of the national trust for the welfare of persons with autism, mental retardation and multiple disabilities under the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry.
Mr Kotian, a manager with the RBI's department of information technology who lost his sight in a freak firecracker accident, went on to become the first visually impaired computer programmer in the country. He is the president of Blind Gradutes Forum of India and a committee member to formulate the syllabus for computer training done by National Institute for Visually Handicapped.
Mr Raman, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, set up the 'Amar Seva Sangam' in Chennai, which provides employment to 39 disabled youth. The NCPEDP-Shell Helen Keller Awards are given to individuals and organisations for working in furthering employment for people with disabilities.
The awards are given every year under three categories. The awards for disabled people who have contributed to the cause of employment for disabled people and are role models for others have been won by Ms Hurzuk, Mr Kotian and Mr Raman.
The second category - given to non-disabled people who have contributed to promotion of employment opportunities for the disabled - of awards have gone to Shanti Raghavan, Shyam Kedare and Fr.Valerino Vaz.
Ms Raghavan's EnAble India provides computer training to the visually impaired people while Mr Kedare, an electrical engineer, is credited with developing technology which allows a blind person to use telephone through touch. Fr. Vaz of Caritas Goa, introduced a new concept of ' reverse inclusion' where non-disabled students join school and get the benefit of special education.
The winners in the category of organisations and companies which promote and practice equal employment opportunities are ABB Ltd., BPCL, Lasersoft Infosystems and Shri Ramana Maharishi Academy in Karnataka.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov122005/update6515420051112.asp
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