Delhi University’s Kirori Mal College has established a Centre for Disability Research, the first of its kind to encourage academic engagement with disability and promote disability studies as a legitimate field of academic enquiry.
Kirori Mal College organised a ceremony to mark the establishment of the Center for Disability Research and distributed assistive devices including Electronic (refreshable) braille display, laptops, tablets, daisy players (digital) to over 30 visually impaired students at the college.
The coordinator at the Centre for Disability Research and Training, Someshwar Sati, said that the centre for disability research was established with an aim to enable the students and the faculty to encourage disability as a legitimate field of academic inquiry and work that will enable an inclusive society.
Kirori Mal College Principal Vibha Chauhan said that KMC had been trying to build up the culture of enablement. She said that the center for disability research will concentrate on research and training. It will also focus on a tool to understand and conceptualise the idea of disability and how it has evolved and its relationship with society.
Further, the centre for disability research is not only limited to the undergraduate students, but it will be open to all, she said.
The Centre offers the students a unique opportunity to strengthen their understanding of disability and join in the process of spreading social awareness of the phenomena in the hope of effecting an attitudinal change in society, she said.
Kirori Mal College (KMC) has partnered with Saksham, a non-governmental organization (NGO) on another initiative known as Aarohan, that will focus on working to create a level-playing field for the visually impaired and low visioned students by offering economical accommodation on the basis of their need-assessment.
KMC organised a felicitation ceremony for alumnus Yogesh Kathuniya who won a silver medal in Men's Discus Throw in recently concluded Tokyo Paralympics 2020, where the announcements regarding the Center for Disability Research and Training was made.
