Nominations Open: NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards 2020

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 NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards are now open. This is a prestigious award given nationally every year to people who are making an 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.

"We have been running the NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards for over a decade now. The journey so far 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", says Arman Ali, Executive Director, NCPEDP.

"We are proud of our decade-long association with the NCPEDP towards promoting the cause of Accessibility and Universal Design. Socially inclusive infrastructure not only provides people with accessibility needs equal access to all the opportunities but also enables them to fully participate in all aspects of life", said Srikanth Karra, Chief Human Resources Officer, Mphasis.

NCPEDP has long believed that 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 a print 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:

1. Built Environment

2. Transport

3. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

4. Services

5. Aids and Appliances

6. Advocacy and Public Policy

2020 will see the 11th edition of the Awards, and nominations are invited in the following 4 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 that the person has done can be in policy framework, grass-root level implementation, design and development, access audits, or even rights movement / advocacy. Every year, 3 people across the country are recognized for the same.

B: Working Professionals – She / he may be the employee of an Educational Institute / NGO / Corporate Organization / Government Body that has taken up the cause or a consultant or freelancer who has devoted her / his time for furthering the cause. Her / his individual contribution to the cause is a major reason for the success achieved by the organization / firm / movement. She / he may also be an individual who is involved in the cause independent of any organizational support and has achieved significant success in the core objective of gaining accessibility for a Person with Disability. Every year, awards in this category are given out to 3 people across the country.

C: Companies / Organizations - Awards in this category are given to those 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. These can be any type of Educational Institute / NGO / Corporate Organization / Government Body / Private Sector / Public Sector / Joint Sector / SME / Proprietorship / Partnership firms. Every year, awards in this category are given out to 4 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 will be 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, 23rd August 2020 and the nomination forms can be downloaded from the NCPEDP website www.ncpedp.org. The Awards will be presented on 28th September 2020.