National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) has announced the 11th edition of NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards 2020 to honour contributions towards the cause of accessibility and universal design.
Nominations for the awards are now open. This is a prestigious award given nationally every year to people making outstanding effort to empower and enable India’s disabled population by developing accessibility solutions or universal design in the space of education, employment, infrastructure and so on.
Universal Design is the design of buildings, products or environments to make them accessible to all people, regardless of age, disability, or any other factor.
Speaking on the occasion Arman Ali, Executive Director, NCPEDP, said, “We have been running the NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards for over a decade now. The journey has proved that Universal Design for inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) is largely possible. We must now take more people along on the journey ahead and spread the culture of Universal Design further”.
Proud to be associated with NCPEDP in promoting the cause of Accessibility and Universal Design for a decade now, Srikanth Karra, Chief Human Resources Officer, Mphasis, shared, “Socially inclusive infrastructure not only provides people with accessibility needs, equal access to all opportunities but also enables them to fully participate in all aspects of life”.
NCPEDP believes accessibility is the bedrock of inclusion. Accessibility not only means access to physical spaces but also access to information, technology, transport, services, aids, and appliances. For example, only 0.05% of printed books are available in accessible formats to people with reading disability. Further, most television programming is not accessible to people with hearing impairment in India.
Thus, to recognize and celebrate exemplary and innovative work towards improved accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, incorporating the principles of Universal Design, NCPEDP with the support of Mphasis launched the ‘NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards’ in 2010.
The Awards cover accessibility in the following fields like Built Environment, Transport, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Services, Aids and Appliances, and Advocacy and Public Policy.
For the 11th edition of the Awards, nominations are invited in four categories:
A: Persons with Disabilities – Awards in this category are given to People with Disabilities who have created an impact on Accessibility and Universal Design. The work can be in policy framework, grass-root level implementation, design and development, access audits, or even rights movement / advocacy. Every year, three contributors across the country are recognized for the same.
B: Working Professionals – Any employee of Educational Institute / NGO / Corporate Organization / Government Body who has taken up the cause or is a consultant or a freelancer who has devoted time for furthering the cause is eligible for this category. Individual contribution to the cause must be the major reason for the success achieved by the organization / firm / movement. The individual may also be involved in the cause independent of any organizational support and achieve significant success in the core objective of gaining accessibility for a Person with Disability. Every year, awards in this category are given out to three such people across the country.
C: Companies / Organizations – Awards in this category are given to companies or organizations that have taken up the cause of Accessibility and Universal Design in any of the areas mentioned above. Companies / Organizations that have implemented recruiting or serving People with Disabilities and providing them equal opportunities to participate to the best of their abilities. Organisations could be Educational Institutes / NGOs / Corporate Organizations / Government Bodies / Private Sectors / Public Sectors / Joint Sectors / SMEs / Proprietorships / Partnership firms. Every year, awards in this category are given out to four such companies / organizations across the country.
D: The NCPEDP – Mphasis Javed Abidi Public Policy Award for Universal Design is a category instituted in 2018 in memory of the Late Mr. Javed Abidi, to recognize advocacy efforts to promote accessibility and the principle of Universal Design. Two awards are given under this category to individuals / organizations in the area of physical infrastructure, transport, ICT, products, and services, doing exemplary work to create a level playing field for People with Disabilities to access the same opportunities and rights as all other citizens of India.
The last date for submitting nominations is Sunday, August 23, 2020 and the nomination forms can be downloaded from the NCPEDP website –www.ncpedp.org. The awards will be presented on 28th September 2020.
