Organising Committee
Shilpi Kedia - Chairperson
Shilpi Kedia is one of the founder members of Net Systems Informatics (I) Pvt. Ltd. She is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. She has been trained in the field of Section 508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and has 15 years of work experience in the field of networking and technical writing. She has founded the first ever computer training center in Mumbai for the visually impaired in 1999 and has also written a book for "Teaching computers to the visually impaired". She specializes in teaching concepts and assistive tools to the visually impaired.
Since 2001, Shilpi has been making efforts to make people aware of accessibility. Techshare India 2008 is one of her initiative towards making people aware of the advancement in the field of accessibility and technology for people with disability. She has been working to build awareness in the government with regards to the needs of people with disabilities.
Dipendra Manocha
Working for DAISY consortium as Assistant Project Manager on the DAISY for All Project, he is involved in introduction of Digital book production facilities in South Asian Countries. for more than a decade, working as Director IT and services at the National Association for the Blind, New Delhi, Managing Trustee, Saksham Trust and consultant to the University of Delhi, he has been involved in ICT accessibility and application of ICT for removing barriors in education and employment for persons with vision impairment. Local Language Content development, Local language adaptation of assistive technology and providing affordable technology tools for developing countries are the areas of specialisation.
Shivani Gupta
Shivani Gupta, who is the lead Access Consultant at AccessAbility, has graduated in Architecture and completed her post-graduation in Inclusive Environments from UK. She has been a recipient of several awards including the National (Role Model) Award given by the President of India (2004), Neerja Bhanot Award (2002), Red and White Social Bravery Award (1999) and Sulabh International Woman of the Year Award (1996) for her consistent inputs towards raising the profile of persons with disabilities. She has also been endowed with Educational Scholarships from Tata Trust, Sminu Jindal Trust and the Snowdon Award (UK) for her academic creditability.
Arun C. Rao
For the past 18 years, Mr. Arun C. Rao has been closely involved with the deaf community; he himself is a father of a deaf child. In 1990, he launched a self help project for deaf youth and now oversees 62 deaf groups across the country. In 1995, Mr. Arun C. Rao represented India at the World Congress of the Deaf in Austria where he presented the Self Help Group model paper. In 1996 he launched "The Deaf Way" a monthly publication for the Indian deaf community. This publication is distributed free across India to all institutions for the deaf. In 1997, he was on the working group of research on Indian Sign language culminating in creation of a comprehensive dictionary of ISL.
Mr. Arun C. Rao also pioneered HIV/AIDS awareness programs for the deaf in 1999; setting up AHEAD Awareness and Health Education for Adult Deaf. In 2001, he pioneered research in Sexual abuse of deaf persons. In that same year he pioneered the concept of Bi-lingual education with the inception of "The Deaf Way" Education centers. In 2003, he presented a paper in the World Congress of the deaf in Montreal.
At present, Mr. Arun C. Rao is managing 5 centers across the country which includes staff, management, and faculty that is completely deaf. In 2002, RCI expert committee on deafness was instrumental in the founding process of the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters of which he remained a Governing Council member till 2007. He also presented papers on deaf education and Indian Sign language at numerous national and international events. He also represented India at the World Conference of Interpreters 2007, World Congress of the Deaf 2007.
