The National Centre for promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Symbiosis Law School (SLS-H), Hyderabad on May 16.

The MoU seeks to undertake a collaboration for research and development of disability rights and initiate a discourse around disability amongst youth. Under this collaboration, multiple value added courses, symposia, conferences, etc. on key issues around disability will be facilitated. Also, a student-run research unit of SLS-H, the Centre for the Rights of Differently Abled (CRDA), will work & assist NCPEDP in terms of research and local level advocacy. The collaboration is one of its kind in the disability sector. This programme will help young law students from undergraduate and postgraduate programmes to pursue their career in the disability sector.

In his address to the audience, Dr. Santosh Aghav, director, SLS-H shared why law schools need to take disability as a subject. He spoke on the need of a holistic approach that would help in creating awareness around disability and removing stigma around it.

Akshay Jain, member (NCPEDP) and keynote speaker at the signing event, shared the need for discourses around disability from a legal standpoint. He stressed the importance of making the society inclusive which can only be achieved when people with disabilities are given equal opportunities to participate in social, political and financial spheres.

This was followed by M. Ramesh, member, Association of People Affected by Leprosy (APAL), Hyderabad sharing the double discrimination faced by persons affected with leprosy wherein they not only suffer the discomfort caused by the disease but also are forced to live separately from the community.

Highlighting the challenges faced by people with disabilities, the guest of honour Arman Ali, executive director, NCPEDP said, “Finding qualified people with disabilities is very rare. Even if they do access education, their workplaces are not accessible which deprives them of their right to employment.”

In the question-answer session moderated by Shubhraa Maheshwari, she commented on the recent issues involving discrimination and unjust treatment towards people with disabilities. She said, “Disability should not be looked at as charity , rather it should mean serious business.”

Registered in 1996, the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) is the country’s premier cross-disability, not-for-profit organisation working as an interface between the government, industry, international agencies and the voluntary sector towards empowerment of persons with disabilities. To learn more, visit www.ncpedp.org. 

Founded in 2014, Symbiosis Law School (SLS) Hyderabad is committed to hone professional skills of students aspiring to be placed in preeminent law firms, corporate houses, judiciary, civil services, banks, insurance companies, NGO’s and the like.

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