Celebrating 20 glorious years of empowering visually impaired
After a successful past year, city-based NGO Saksham hopes to continue driving change and uplifting the community via digital education, assistive technology as well as social media accessibility initiatives
February 14 this year marks the 20th anniversary of Saksham’s being. Over the last two decades, the Delhi-based NGO, founded by Dipendra Manocha, has been at the forefront of digital education for the visually impaired. “It has been such a satisfying journey, the last 20 years. It gives huge satisfaction that we’ve been able to remove obstacles caused by blindness, in many different ways,” shares Manocha.
Determined to empower the community, the NGO has announced the launch of a training curriculum to make social media accessible for persons with disabilities.
In addition, Saksham has launched a manual to sensitise the mainstream and train people with disabilities. It is also equipping its in-house trainers and helpline chain to facilitate seamless communication for all.
“Inclusivity as a habit should be embedded in us all,” says Mandy Gupta Vasudev, communication and social media head at the NGO. Vasudev adds, “We look at empowering people with technological assistive tools. The vision is to touch and change lives by providing digital education to the blind.”
The year 2022 has been particularly successful for Saksham. In December, the organisation was invited to deliberate on the topic, ‘My Accessible Content: Skills for a Digital World’, at the India Internet Governance Forum.
In January this year, the NGO made a significant impact at the Purple Fest in Goa, a three-day event held for people with disabilities. At the car rally that was organised, drivers were guided by visually impaired navigators, who took the help of Braille navigation maps.
