IBM India THINKs for special children

CMN Bureau

BANGALORE, INDIA: The Spastic Society of Karnataka, PACER Center and IBM India have joined hands to announce a technology partnership to launch India’s first comprehensive Assistive Technology Center, expected to become functional here next year.

Assistive Technology is a specialized hardware or software that is used to help increase, maintain or assist the functional capabilities of people with disabilities.

The center at Bangalore is modeled after PACER Center’s Minnesota, US-based Simon Technology Center and dedicated to making the benefits of technology more accessible to children and adults with disabilities.

Mary Pawlenty, the first lady of Minnesota, unveiled the first plaque for the center today, in the presence of Shanker Annaswamy, managing director IBM India and South Asia and Bridget Ames, coordinator of PACER’s Simon Technology Center.

Speaking at the occasion, Annaswamy appreciated “the tremendous work – that was not easy” the Spastic Society of Karnataka (SSK), an NGO, has put in. “IBM is working hand-in-hand with like minded public and non-profit organizations to design technology solutions that address specific problems. PACER Center and the Spastic Society of Karnataka are perfect partners to deliver on our commitments to the Indian society.”

He added, “IBM has always viewed integrating business and societal values as a strategic imperative to our global operations. We believe that education, healthcare and equal opportunity are essential to build a productive, knowledge-based workforce.”

IBM hires a significant number of employees with various disabilities. “We recruited the first person with disabilities in 1914, 76 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Annaswamy said.

In India also IBM recruits people with disabilities. Annaswamy refused to provide the exact number of such people recruited in India, but said the firm is 53,000 employees strong in the country.

Pawlenty said she is “extraordinarily impressed with the difference the SSK is making in the lives of children.”