“No organisation is perfect in DEI work, and we can never say we are perfect. It is a journey, and it needs to be an ongoing one. We need to keep learning that each person with disability comes with their own needs and we must address each of these needs.” Madhavi Latha Prathigudupu remarked intentionally at our event “Workplace Inclusion and Disability Rights in India”.
On December 3rd, 2024, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Godrej DEI Lab co-organised this event and hosted it at our Godrej One campus located in Vikhroli, Mumbai. Our partners were the renowned law firm Khaitan and Co, who extended their legal expertise towards naming and explaining legal frameworks centering rights of people with disabilities.
Open to everyone, the event was joined by folx from different backgrounds including students from universities across Mumbai. Attendees were greeted with a copy of the “ThisAble Me” handbook, a brief explainer on disability inclusion in the workplace produced by Zoya and team at Godrej Properties Limited.
As our attendees settled in our auditorium, we began the event with a screening of “When Opportunity Knocks The Recruiter’s Door” produced by Yes We Too Can!!! (YWTC) Trust, a film about countering ableist biases embedded in recruitment practices.
At the lectern was our dear colleague Pushkar Pendse from Astec Life Sciences, who is also a member of the DEI Council. Pushkar welcomed everyone present in the auditorium warmly, and wonderfully hosted the event through the afternoon. Taking forward the conversation and introducing its crux, Parmesh Shahani, head of the Godrej DEI Lab, explained how the Godrej Industries Group is working to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. He delved into publicly available group data accounting for how many people with disabilities have been employed across entry level and middle management positions in the organisation. Parmesh stressed the necessity for every organisation to make this data transparent so that we can learn from and challenge each other to continue the work of significantly increasing these numbers.
Launched publicly for the first time in collective spirit was also Khaitan’s revised handbook “Rights of Persons with Disability” which includes a foreword written by Parmesh. Arva Merchant, who is Senior Partner: Dispute Resolutions at Khaitan and Co., and part of their ARISE: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative, explained how the legal discourse that the handbook discusses has been organised and collated. She further detailed why this handbook matters in the context of workplace inclusion.
Launch of Khaitan and Co.'s revised handbook “Rights of Persons with Disability”
Central to the event was a panel discussion. Coming together as co-panelists were Madhavi Latha Prathigudupu (Founder: Paralympic Swimming Association, Tamil Nadu and YWTC Trust); Aradhana Lal (Co-lead: Recruiting Persons with Disabilities, Lemon Tree Hotels); Arva Merchant; Zoya (D&I Lead, Godrej Properties Ltd.), and Ananya Sharma (Group General Counsel, JSW Group). Stewarding the panel was Aakash Choubey (Corporate and Commercial Practices Group, Khaitan and Co.) who led and guided the discussion brilliantly.
The panel centered a conversation around what it might mean to constructively as well as contextually think about building and maintaining an equitable work environment with and for people with disabilities. This extended not only to persons with disabilities currently inhabiting work environments, but folx who might seek future employment. Each of the panelists shared insights and learning from their own positions.
A key question that emerged organically was how job descriptions and roles might be better outlined when hiring people with disabilities. Madhavi pointed towards the urgency and necessity to imagine collective approaches to hiring processes where people with disabilities can co-outline their tasks and contributions within a given organisation. “I am capable. I don’t like it when someone decides for me what tasks I can and cannot do in a job role. It is the work environment that is ableist. It is not my disability that's a hindrance.” she declared.
Aradhana Lal emphasised systemic change at every step of recruitment processes. “It is about ensuring accommodations for people with disabilities even in training rooms in organisations,” she added. As an example, she further cited how Madhu, our ISL interpreter at Godrej One, was sharing the stage with the panel to ensure that questions raised and knowledges generated during the panel discussion were equally accessible to folx with speech and hearing impairment present with us in the auditorium.
Zoya troubled the binary between apparent and non-apparent disabilities. They articulated how a person might have multiple intersecting disabilities and that each person might have lived experiences that are different from those of another. In the context of making accommodations available, they added “It is not about solving just for people with locomotor or sensory disabilities. This solutionistic approach can and must extend towards meeting the needs of people across the spectrum of disability including neurodiversity.” Zoya specified.
Arva Merchant spoke further about the work being carried out at Khaitan and Co. towards examining and expanding the legal frameworks around accommodations for mental illnesses in the context of disability.
Ananya Sharma, declaring her position in the manufacturing industry, explained the inadequacies of historically and legally established standards, and committed to challenge practices that deny hiring people with disabilities. Acknowledging safety guidelines and protocols put to practice in heavy industries, she discussed intentions towards identifying ways of making accommodation for people with disability possible in this sector.
The panel discussion was followed by a brief Q&A session where people in the audience asked questions around matters of better acknowledging and accommodating non-apparent disabilities in the workplace to make possible personal growth and success within an organisation. Pitched to the panel was also a creative imagination of e-portals where people with disability across the spectrum can communicate their skills with each other and to employers, on their own terms.
The event concluded with a screening of the film “Access/Ability” produced by the Godrej DEI Lab, depicting what a day in the work life of people with disabilities looks and feels like in Godrej Industries Group offices.
What followed was a wonderful get-together in our cafeteria where everyone present spent time getting to know each other and discussing interests, mutual and otherwise, over plates of warm snacks. Also hosted at the venue were stalls each by Access for ALL and Mann Foundation that were making available handmade artifacts to buy as well as interactive exhibits to engage with.
While the generative conversations around workplace inclusion and rights of people with disability that evening came to a pause, we continue to remain inspired and committed to critically think through. We will imagine, as Zoya wonderfully articulated, how to ongoingly make space for each person with disability in ways that are meaningful to them and us.
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The Lab expresses gratitude to volunteers, support staff, and security team for all the assistance they generously offered in making this event happen. Further thanks to Manav (Photography) as well as Harshad and the JMD team (Videography) for documenting this event.
Text by Gayatri Shanbhag. Gayatri is a researcher, writer, maker, and educator interested in design studies, makerspace pedagogy, and queer-feminist experimental arts praxis. They are currently working as a research intern at the Godrej DEI Lab.