In keeping with its commitment to reducing the disability job gap, Microsoft today announced a partnership with EnAble India to create 100,000 new opportunities for people with disabilities (PwDs).

The initiative, named 'Inclusion To Action', aims to provide a platform for more than 100 organisations in the country from the financial services, manufacturing, retail, and technology sectors to collaborate on various tech skilling, mentorship, internship, and employment initiatives to achieve economies of scale in the common goal of economic empowerment for persons with disabilities.

People with disabilities face multiple impediments to equal employment opportunities, resulting in increasing unemployment rates and socioeconomic inequality. 

To overcome these issues, people with disabilities must have equal access to education and career possibilities as everyone else. Technology plays an essential part in enabling this access through mentoring and skill development, as well as better connecting individuals with disabilities to available job opportunities.

EnAble India and Microsoft have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop an ecosystem for both opportunity seekers and providers, with programmes spanning from tech skills and mentorship to internships and jobs. 

The technical skilling programmes are intended to improve awareness of digital accessibility, which might result in a cultural shift as firms shape their hybrid work strategies.

Increased representation of people with disabilities will also lead to more inclusive product development, which will benefit technology users with disabilities. 

They also have access to a training curriculum on modern workplace applications for increased productivity and efficient collaboration.

Dipesh Sutariya, Co-Founder, Enable India, said: 

“At Enable India, we believe work is core to human dignity. In an era where 85% of the jobs are filled by networking, there is an urgent need to unlock opportunities for people with disabilities whose social circles are 10% of those of the non-disabled. We are proud to partner with Microsoft to unlock 100,000 opportunities for people with disabilities as pathways to economic empowerment.”

Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, said: 

“At Microsoft, we believe that disability is a strength, and we are committed to creating an ecosystem of accessibility to help tackle the disability divide, including disparities in employment. This unique collaboration between EnAble India and Microsoft marks the beginning of a continuous endeavour to engage with multiple stakeholders across industry, advocates, experts, policymakers, and the disability community to empower and transform employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. All of us now need to act with bolder ambition to empower this large untapped talent pool to achieve more.”

Recognising that any single company's contribution will always be limited, the engagement of more than 100 organisations in this collaboration will broaden the scope and impact of efforts to reduce the unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities. 

The collaboration between EnAble India and Microsoft will recognise and promote partners and suppliers that hire people with disabilities to establish a culture of accessibility that will have a ripple effect throughout the industry and beyond the business community.

This cooperation builds on Microsoft's five-year global commitment to closing the education, job, and technology gaps for individuals with disabilities around the world.

Microsoft is collaborating with governments, corporations, industry groups, universities, non-profits, and civil society partners in India to train people with disabilities for a sustainable, future-ready economy.

Source: Microsoft

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