Ganderbal: Under the auspices of the G-20 university connect, the department of Politics and Governance, Central University of Kashmir (CUK) organized a webinar on “Disability, Accessibility and Inclusive Development” by Dr. Mahesh S. Panicker from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Mahesh, discussed how disability and impairment are two different things, which denies opportunities to an individual. He narrated his struggles as a college student and how the development of technology has helped students with various kinds of disabilities. He elaborated on the series of assistive technologies and software helping the students with disability. Dr. Mahesh explained the need of libraries in promoting education with the help of technological developments for inclusive development. He spoke on how people need to be educated about the disability movement in India and how different institutions have come a long way in becoming disabled-friendly.
In his address, Vice Chancellor, Prof. Farooq Ahmad Shah, said that disabled people should not be considered weak. He said people with disabilities are no less than able-bodied people, adding that India has a large disabled population, and it should be ensured that they are provided with equal opportunities to move forward. He added that the University has a zero discrimination policy towards disabled students. Prof. Shah said that the mindset of inclusiveness needs to be developed among the society and there is no inclusive development without including the people with disability and recognizing them as one among us. He invited Dr. Mahesh to help the university administration in making the University more disabled friendly.
Registrar, Prof. M Afzal Zargar, in his speech, highlighted how people with disabilities have excelled in every aspect of life. He emphasized on having the inclusive environment as recommended under NEP guidelines and G-20 objectives. He further said the universities should ensure that it is disabled-friendly and CUK has always ensured that people with special abilities do not face any problems. The lecture was followed by the question and answer session.
Dr. Abhiruchi Ojha, Incharge Nodal officer, introduced the speaker and moderated the webinar. The webinar was started with an introduction about the event by Ms. Tahira Khatoon, Assistant Prof and Additional Nodal Officer-G20.

KR Desk