Among the graduating students of IIMB, the 12 differently-abled students received the loudest applause.
Speaking to The Hindu, some of them spoke of the measures taken by the institute to make the campus an inclusive space, setting an example for others. The institute has an Office of Disability Services.
Rohith John Phillip, 30, who suffers from low vision, said that a three-member panel sat with him to understand his challenges and the interventions he required as soon as he joined the institute. “The faculty members made a conscious effort to make sure my seat was close to the board and ensured that my question paper had bigger fonts,” he said, and added that the institute also installed extra lights around his room.
Shoeb, another student who graduated, is hearing-impaired and uses the lip reading technique to follow speech. He has been involved in a campaign to make all spaces more accessible and has been trying to make taxi applications more user-friendly for the differently-abled. Shoeb aims to crack the civil services.
Jaskaran Singh, who is a civil engineering student, had worked in a real estate developer firm before he joined IIMB. Jaskaran moves around the campus in a motorised wheelchair provided by IIMB. He had spinal injury in 2011 after a car accident which resulted in paralysis from neck down. As he lost his family members in the accident, he also requested the institute for financial help towards his tuition fees, which he received.
