IBM awarded for empowering the disabled

BANGALORE, INDIA: IBM India, an IT service provider, announced on Thursday that it has won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities as Employer for the year 2008, conferred by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India.

The honorable vice president of India, Md Hamid Ansari presented the award at ceremony that was recently held in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, said a press release.

The award recognizes its significant contribution towards bringing persons with disabilities into the mainstream by removing barriers and providing gainful employment to create a truly inclusive world community, the release added.

“Accessibility technology is a great equalizer to level the playing field for people with disabilities and contributes to innovation that matters,” said Ramesh Narasimhan, executive sponsor, people with disabilities (PwD) initiative of IBM.

“It's about embracing global diversity and enabling human ability so that all people can reach their full potential at work and in life.” He added that this National Award is in recognition of our efforts in making IBM an inclusive workplace and that reinforces commitment to roll out innovations for people with disabilities.

The IBM India human ability and accessibility center strives to makes technology and information easily accessible to over 60 million Indians who are differently-abled and closely collaborates with key government bodies concerning accessibility-related policy and standards in India.

Through the use of innovative solutions like IBM easy web browsing, IBM webadapt2me, Hindi Speech recognition, an English assessment tool called Sensei, IBM aDesigner etc, center catalyzes human capability so that everyone could maximize their potential, regardless of ability or disability, the release added.