b'b\'DNA Talks October 2021


Dear DNA Members Namaste from DNA team,


We are back again to share the DNA talks Calendar for the October month.\xc2\xa0 We extend our appreciations to each one of you for joining the sessions and engaging in new ways of learning. We hope each of the speakers and the topics selected were \\\\\\\\are of relevance to address the concerns that keeps emerging from time to time. So far, we have organised 34 sessions in last nine months (Jan to September 2021) broadly covering various aspects relating to livelihood, policy & advocacy, Disability domain related, Regulatory compliance and Systems & process.


In the interest of reaching out to more personnel and beneficiaries; we request you to utilize this opportunity to your best. (invite more and more staffs\\\\\\\\caregivers\\\\\\\\parents to join in these sessions as per the requirements and benefit from the inputs.\xc2\xa0 We are sharing the session outlines for October 2021. Please share the list of people who participates from your organisation with their designation if possible; so that later we can collect the feedback to assess the effectiveness of this program. If you have any queries, please get in touch with one of DNA team members or contact Mrs. Savitha Devi through email or WhatsApp. Contact: 9845029692 email: memberservices@dna.org\xc2\xa0


Please note: All these sessions are Scheduled from 3:00 pm. Depending on the content delivery and the topic usually the session will be schedule for 1 &1/2 hour to 2 hours on every Friday of the month.


01st Oct 2021 As we all know, Assistive technology enables people to live healthy, productive, independent, and dignified lives, and to participate in education, the labour market and civic life. Assistive technology reduces the need for formal health and support services, long-term care and the work of caregivers. Without assistive technology, people are often excluded, isolated, and locked into poverty, thereby increasing the impact of disease and disability on a person, their family, and society.

In this respect, people who most need assistive technology include: - people with disabilities, older people, people with noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and stroke, people with mental health conditions including dementia and autism, people with gradual functional decline. Assistive technology can have a positive impact on the health and well-being of a person and their family, as well as broader socioeconomic benefits. For example: Proper use of hearing aids by young children leads to improved language skills, without which a person with hearing loss has severely limited opportunities for education and employment.\xc2\xa0


In this perspective, to give better insights towards the newer innovative assistive technology we have invited the following speakers who have initiated their new start-ups.\xc2\xa0

  1. Mr. Dhruv Chaudhry: Indent Designs - A company working in the personal mobility space.


  1. Mrs. Janhavi Joshi:\xc2\xa0 Blee Tech - works on technology solution for the accessibility and inclusion of the deaf.


  1. Mr. Ravindra Singh: MyUdaan - offers a single epi-centre app connecting Technology, Product & Services creating India\\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x99s First Mobility ecosystem for persons with Disabilities.


  1. Mr. Narayanan Ramakrishnan: Invention Labs Engineering Products - creates assistive technology products that empower and educate people with disabilities.\xc2\xa0


  1. Mr. Bonny Dave & Mr. Akshita Sachdeva: Trestle Labs \\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x93 empowers the Blind & Visual Impaired Community towards Inclusive education & employment by enabling real-time access to any Printed, Handwritten and Digital content through audio across 12 Indian and multiple international languages.

Mr. Prateek from ATF will be facilitating the session. This session will be held for 2 hours and it will be held in English with Kannada translation and demo of the assistive technology.\xc2\xa0 we request you to utilize this opportunity to your best. (invite more and more staffs\\\\\\\\caregivers\\\\\\\\parents to join in these sessions as per the requirements and benefit from the inputs.\xc2\xa0


08th Oct 2021 Therapy is\xc2\xa0a form of treatment that aims to help resolve mental \\\\\\\\ emotional \\\\\\\\behavioural issues. But over the decades, experts with their in-depth researches\\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x99 have identified other therapy such as speech therapy, Physio therapy, occupational therapy and so on. However, a question often that bothers and comes to ones\\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x99 mind is who can be a therapist? Does it require high level of intelligence to learn the skills? Is it similar to surgery? Any prerequisite\\\\\\\\qualification required to do the course or learn it? How long one needs to go for these services? So, this list can go on \\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x93 but then in the current scenario how for is it feasible to depend on them for constant support in order to improve the conditions of the child on regular basis. \xc2\xa0


Can Parents\\\\\\\\Caregivers learn these skills sets or equip themselves by learning the simple techniques or engage themselves in being creative & innovative in handling their children by providing basic therapy services. To address all of these concerns\\\\\\\\anxieties\\\\\\\\apprehension; we have invited Mrs. Vaishali Pai, the founder of Tamahar Trust \\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x93 (Centre for children with developmental disabilities) who is also an Occupational Therapist by Profession.\xc2\xa0


Session will be held for 2 hours and it will be held in Kannada with PPTs in English.\xc2\xa0 \xc2\xa0



22nd Oct 2021 Social security plays a very vital role in every stage of once (his\\\\\\\\her) life. In the interest of safe guarding on this aspect many welfare schemes have been initiated & introduced both in private and public sectors. \xc2\xa0

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Employees\\\\\\\' State Insurance \\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x93 ESI is once such public social security and health insurance fund for Indian workers. The fund is managed by the Employees\\\\\\\' State Insurance Corporation according to rules and regulations stipulated in the ESI Act 1948.\xc2\xa0

Later, in the year 1952 on 4th March in New Delhi, India- The Employees\\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x99 Provident Fund Organisation as the social security body under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Labour & Employment was founded. The Government of India is responsible for regulation and management of provident funds, pensions and the mandatory life insurance in India.\xc2\xa0 Under this Provident fund & Miscellaneous Act - The employee and employer each contribute 12% of the employee\\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x99s basic salary and dearness allowance towards EPF. Currently, the rate of interest on EPF deposits is 8.50% p.a.

Professional tax is a tax on income charged by the State Government. The maximum limit of professional tax which can be levied on a person in a financial year\xc2\xa0is \\\\xe2\\\\x82\\\\xb9 2,500. Not all States and Union Territories charge P Tax, like; Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, etc.


However, what matters is does every employer safeguard his \\\\\\\\her employee. If not, what are the challenges, limitations either parties go through what will be the impact on the whole. Is there a better way to address these concerns or alternative solutions?\xc2\xa0


To address & clarify on these doubts we have invited Mr. Murrali from Dhwani Foundation who has expertise in this field for more than 2 decades.\xc2\xa0


Session will be held for 2 hours and it will be held in Kannada with PPTs in English.\xc2\xa0 \xc2\xa0



29th Oct 2021 Creativity is\xc2\xa0the act of conceiving something new, whether a variation on a theme or something wholly new. Innovation is the act of putting something into practice. It\\\\\\\'s the difference between conceiving of the idea of a craft that could fly through space, and actually building a rocket that people can ride into space. We as human beings always have been good @ dreaming of new things\\\\\\\\ideas and making those dreams come true by converting those into practical usage \\\\\\\\bringing these ideas to life. \xc2\xa0


In this 21st century - we get to see many such examples in all sectors & aspects that connects & attracts to our life in some way or the other.\xc2\xa0 One of our member NGO \\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x93 Gift Abled working towards fostering inclusion has got several examples to this. \xc2\xa0 With creative thought and innovation, they would like to introduce the new program called Sculpt: which is an e-learning platform for Children with Disabilities. It mainly aims to bridge the learning gap and enable Children with Disabilities of all categories enabling to integrate in the mainstream learning ecosystem. It is a very effective tool\\\\\\\\technique to be used for the age group of 2-11 years a foundational age; available in 9 languages.\xc2\xa0


The experts\\\\xe2\\\\x80\\\\x99 team from this organisation have experimented and tested this program and the impact has been very high (close to 80 to 90%). This module can be learnt by parents\\\\\\\\caregivers as well - to effectively assess their child in the process of learning. It is not only competency Based Learning but also Self-paced Learning. \xc2\xa0


We have invited Mrs. Prathana Kaul & her team to facilitate the session on 29th Oct 2021.\xc2\xa0


Session will be held for 2 hours and it will be held in Kannada with PPTs in English. \xc2\xa0


November 2021:

The DNA Talks scheduled for the month of November 2021 are:

12th Nov 2021 -\xc2\xa0 Parents and NGOs members about pregnancy, precautions and Government schemes available to pregnant mothers for their health and well being by Dr. Pratibha from St.Johns Medical college.


19th Nov 2021 -\xc2\xa0 Role of\xc2\xa0 Parents & importance of formation of Parents Association by Mr. Natesh, Career world wide.


26th Nov 2021 -\xc2\xa0Understanding welfare schemes for PWDs and how to access them - Niramaya, Scholarship, providing mobility products, etc


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