Mumbai, 07 July 2018: The American India Foundation (AIF) felicitated 107 youth with disabilities on the completion of their skills training under Ability Based Livelihood Empowerment (ABLE) program. Shri Ruchesh Jaivanshi IAS, Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Maharashtra distributed certificates to the ABLE trainees. These visually-impaired and physically-challenged youth were skilled in fields such as Retail, Hospitality and Physiotherapy and given pre-employment training by AIF’s implementing partners NAB Mumbai and Cheshire Homes Mumbai. With the support of Tarsadia Foundation-USA, ABLE advocates for inclusive growth in India through the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the workforce and acceptance of disabilities within larger communities. Other eminent guests present during the event included Sanjoy Dutta, AVP of Franklin Templeton Investments and Sajit Menon, AIF’s Head of Programs. Parents and employers also shared their experiences of transformation in the ABLE candidates as they emerged out of their trainings and joined the work-force confidently.
Mathew Joseph, Country Director-AIF said “Today is a proud moment for us. In a country where less than 2% of its disabled are employed, AIF’s ABLE program is revolutionizing the industry paradigm by training and advocating for employment of people with disabilities. Till date, we have trained over 14,000 PwDs in 19 states across India and will skill another 2500 this year. We strongly believe that people with disabilities should be encouraged and given equal opportunities.”
