Monday, July 3, 2017

Workshop on Supporting Inclusive Society 2017

“Inclusive Society”, a topic which is so close to my heart. Firstly I would like to share my experience and what I know about an inclusive society. When I started my first job as a manager at a wedding decoration firm I was just an undergraduate.  At that time I didn’t know my eyesight was so poor to work in an office environment. Employees who worked under me at that time had noticed I had a poor eyesight and they have told this matter to the director of the organization. They have tested my eyesight while I was at work in different ways that I didn’t have any clue that they were testing me. One day the director told me I got a poor eyesight which is a barrier for the position I was working at that time and told me to resign from the job. It was a shock for me, I can still remember the day I left that job. I stood in the bus stop wondering what to do or where to go for a long time. After that I was afraid to apply for any jobs and I was at home for 2 years trying different treatments to improve my eyesight.
Then I joined the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind rehabilitation program, to learn how to use the computer with screen readers and to learn Braille. I also joined the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon ICT program for the visually impaired. I gained good knowledge about screen readers and I also served as a volunteer information technology instructor at Rathmalana School for the Blind. At that time I was confident that I can work in an office environment because I had good knowledge in tools that a visually impaired person can use in an office environment to perform different tasks. When I was a member in the Sri Lanka Federation of Visually Handicapped Youth I got my dream job, the job that I loved to do. To be an e-Marketing Consultant. I was very happy about my new job. I had lots of experience and knowledge to apply at my work to improve the business for the new organization I joined.
As usual I started analysing their web site and recognised some changes and started working on them. I checked their email marketing system and fixed an issue they were facing at that time, I created new social media pages which are essential for their kind of business, checking emails, social media inquiries, analysing website hits etc. e-Marketing was a new area for business at that time so no one at the organisation didn’t know much about e-Marketing. For them e-Marketing was, the number of Facebook Fan Page likes and the number of Facebook friends. I was working with screen readers, a magnified computer screen and a video magnifier to read printed documents. I felt like I was an “Alien”, who has come from another world, where others were performing their tasks normally. Other employees in the organisation  made me feel like that. They were focussing more on things I couldn’t do than things I can do. For example designing leaflets, which is challenging for me to do with my vision. They didn’t believe in building a strong e-marketing base which will help an organisation to improve their business in the future and a visually challenged person can do it for them. I didn’t want to work there anymore because my working environment was very uncomfortable.
After that I got an opportunity to work with the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon. To manage the e-Marketing campaign for their biggest event, “The EFC Business Symposium”. And to manage the e-Marketing campaign for the project “Local Empowerment through Economic Development” (LEED), organized by The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon Disability Network. It was a totally different working environment for me. When I was working with them I felt that my voice was heard and I’m an important person in the organization. I also got an opportunity to work as a “Bio Medical Support Technician”, a job title many visually impaired persons would skip when applying for a job. Managing a person with disability at a working place is a rare skill for an employer. I saw that quality in all the workers in the company where I worked as a Bio Medical Technician. It’s amazing how encouraging they were, my boss always used to say “Believe in God, He can do miracles” and he told others to support me at work. I had my own tool set. I had a portable video magnifier, a torch, a normal magnifier and my screen reading software installed to the laptop. My boss used to take my opinion in IT related issues in the company. I felt that I’m an important employee in the company. I supported in repairing bio medical equipment’s, preparing documents, managing maintenance reports, handing over repaired machines to hospitals and managing IT related tasks in the company.
In sports I got the opportunity to practice and play with regular vision players and I was welcomed to join with them both in Swimming and Chess. When I was reading for my degree and other courses I got all the resources I needed to complete my tasks. Lecturers and my colleagues were very supportive and friendly. With all these mixed experiences about an inclusive society I was so excited and happy to participate in the workshop on “Supporting Inclusive Society”.
The workshop was organized by the Asian Blind Union (ABU). venue of the workshop was Opulent River Face Hotel. It was a 4 day workshop, starting from the 21st May to 24th May 2017. The facilitator for the workshop was Ms. Soha Fleyfil. Members from India, Pakistan, Afganistan and Sri Lanka participated in the workshop.
The main topics covered in the workshop were defining inclusion, disability inclusion, Characteristics of an inclusive organisation, Characteristics of an inclusive manager, the project cycle, vision, mission, overall strategy, accessibility and areas of accessibility. We did lot of practical’s to understand the meanings of all the lessons and how we can practically use what we learned from the workshop. The lessons were structured in a way that we can understand everything about an inclusive society. Among South Asian countries I felt that India is in front when it comes to protecting rights for a person with disability. In Pakistan and Afganistan it is similar  to what we are practicing here in Sri Lanka.

According to my experiences and the knowledge I gained from the workshop I feel that if you are a person with a disability no matter what tools you use, for a visually impaired person even though you have a synthetic pair of eyes that you can use at your workplace, if the working environment is not comfortable for you, it is hard for you to perform your tasks effectively and efficiently. For me an inclusive organisation is an organisation which values the contribution of all employees, including individuals with disabilities. Our voice should be heard. It makes us feel we are also a part of the organisation. I felt that, if employers can participate in these kinds of workshops they would also learn something that they can use at their workplace. The manager plays a crucial role in an inclusive organisation. For an inclusive organisation, “Full participation  is not the goal it is the action”!