To raise awareness about Universal Design and Accessibility in the young minds so that they become more receptive to the diversity and inclusion in their lives and career, Svayam provides internship opportunities for graduate and post graduate students of various streams.
In this series, final year students of PGDM program of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Usha & Lakshmi Mittal Institute of Management (BULMIM), New Delhi underwent their internship during 25 September 2017 to 14 October 2017.
As part of the internship, a batch of 16 students attended sensitization and awareness workshops on disability equality, accessibility and universal design, and were exposed to the process of conducting access audits of built environment (Govt Schools & Pedestrian infrastructure) from the perspectives of its usability by persons with reduced mobility and making presentations of audit reports of the sites visited.
Upon completion of their three-week long internship, Ms. Sminu Jindal Founder and Chairperson, Svayam, handed over the Internship Certificates to them on 12 October 2017.
Sharing their experiences about how their attitude has changed, a student said that he never looked at the built environment from this perspective. Now he will go back to his city as a changed man and will sincerely attempt to make his town accessible and spread the message of inclusion, accessibility and universal design. Similar ethos echoed with every student.
Ms. Sminu Jindal motivated them to work for accessibility and said, “Accessibility helps everyone, and not just the disabled. An elderly person can independently step out and do their daily chores without depending on other people. Accessibility ensures that they live, and not just breathe.”
“Wherever you go, whatever you do in life, add your efforts to make your surroundings accessible, and change the attitude of those who come across you,” she exhorted the students, and wished them good luck in their future endeavours.