Towards Independent Living... Employment

The visually challenged face a lot of difficulty when seeking employment. Whilst it is necessary to create a job market for these students, it is equally important to equip the students with necessary skill sets so that they can assume responsibilities which call for higher levels of competency.

As part of this objective, the XRCVC makes efforts to equip the students with skill sets as well as personality and attitude which will make them competent employees. It also tries to link them to appropriate job markets.

Our first internship was with Johnson & Johnson Medical India. Our student did a three month internship with their HR department and is now working with them on a full time basis. This year as well the XRCVC has placed two interns, this time with ITC Hotel, The Maratha Mumbai in their Sales & Marketing department.

We also provide support to potential employers both in terms of post placement support as well as pre placement sensitization so that the visually challenged person may be effectively integrated into the work space.

Employment – Expanding Reach, a Career Seminar for the Visually Challenged

In order to further the Employment objective of the XRCVC, a two-day career seminar ‘Employment - Expanding Reach’ targeting visually challenged students and other stakeholders was organised. The objectives of the seminar were firstly, to give its participants an exposure to a wide range of career avenues and secondly, to use the two-day seminar as a stepping stone for its participants in their individual career planning process. The seminar was sponsored by IBM.

The seminar held on 13th – 14th Sep 2007, saw over 60 participants and 10 speakers from diverse career backgrounds. The participants were visually challenged students from different colleges in Mumbai and Pune as well as parents and other professionals working with the visually challenged.

The speakers shared their experiences and expertise of working in their chosen careers. All the speakers in addition to providing the participants the basic know how of the professions also gave inputs on how the visually challenged could adapt to the specific environments. Moreover, since a majority of the speakers were visually challenged themselves, they were able to provide a direct, first hand experience. The seminar showcased a range of career avenues - management, information technology, law, the social sector, academics, finance, health related services, media, etc.

The XRCVC considers the seminar to be a starting point of a process. The concluding session focused on helping the participants identify the direction in which they could begin planning their respective careers. The XRCVC has agreed to provide follow-up support and guidance to all the career seminar participants. Further, it has also produced a CD data pack of the full proceedings of the seminar along with other useful and inspirational career planning material.

If you wish to procure a copy of the CD data pack you can contact us. You can have a glimpse of the seminar pictures at the gallery link.