Keynote Address
In Ahmedabad, we attended these two conferences, one organized by CSI and the other one by the members of AccessIndia. AccessIndia is an online group of people interested in the field of accessibility for the disabled.
The focus of both conferences was accessibility. I presented a paper on accessibility with Web 2.0 in CSI. The paper was OK. Overall, there were some interesting sessions in CSI -- like the one from the National Institute of Design (NID) about accessible design concepts developed by NID students as part of their project work.
The AI conference was organized at the Blind People's Association (BPA) and the BpA director Ms. Nandini Rawal gave the keynote address. This was definitely "the best" keynote address I have ever heard in any of the conferences I have ever attended. The lady spoke from her heart and had a lot of substance in what she was saying -- I'm totally impressed.
Interestingly enough, Kanchan -- the stage manager -- had the brain wave in the middle of this awesome keynote address that she didn't have anyone to do a "vote of thanks" or whatever it is that you should do in such conferences after the keynote address. Here I am sitting in a corner in the second row listening intently when I get a tap on my shoulder and a voice hangs over my shoulder and tells me in my ear: "sir, Kanchan madam aapko stage pe bula rahi hain. Aapko in madam ke liye vote of thanks karna hai."
I turn around flustered... She couldn't be serious, I thought to myself. "main nahin kar sakta" I reply. The guy goes: "Sir mujhe kya pata. Main toh siraf Kanchan madam ka message le ke aaya hun. Aap chal ke unse baat kar lo."
I see his logic and decide to move to the stage with him where kanchan is sitting right behind the speaker. In hushed voices:
I: Kanchan, what is this?"
kanchan: "Please do this. Will you do it?"
I: "But what is a vote of thanks? What am I supposed to say?"
Kanchan: "Just shut up and listen carefully to what she is saying and you need to summarize what she has said in your vote of thanks. Will you do it?"
I: (An extremely tentative) "ok"
At the end of it, I did manage to put together a couple of witty remarks that at least to me did summarize the address -- but really, I wish I could prepare such a seriously impressive presentation some day.
Update: Harish just posted the text of the presentation on the list. Pasting it below:
KEYNOTE ADDRESS OF NANDINI RAWAL
AT ACCESS INDIA CONFERENCE AT BLIND PEOPLE’S ASSOCIATION
21 September, 2008
My Dear Bright, Brilliant and Successful Friends,
I am so privileged to stand in front of you today. My heart is bursting with pride when I look at this gathering of young, savvy, qualified persons who are so confident, assured and charming. Blind people have come a long way from what I’d seen them 27 years ago when I joined the BPA.
I salute all of you achievers for your success but always remember “success is never final, failure is never fatal, it is courage that counts”.
As I stand before you, I am trying to remember the Keynote Addresses I have heard in the past. I can’t remember many because, probably, they failed to strike a chord in my heart. I therefore, decided to make my Keynote address, one that would touch your heart and being and remain with you.
I decided that I would share my dreams and visions with you so that all our tomorrows are bright and beautiful.
Power of the Dream:
My first dream is that Bill Gates sponsors the Jaws Software and gives it free to each needy person who is visually impaired. I wish that technology acts as the great leveler and acts as bridge between the blind and people who can see we can name the software “whispering windows”!!
My second dream is that each school for the blind starts believing in technology and is able to afford a computer for every blind student. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment should give computers to blind students as part of the Assistive Devices Scheme. This dream will thus be titled “Information Technology within reach of each.
Persons with visual impairment are all very different. They form a very diverse community. We have blind people who are physiotherapists, computer programmers, teachers, telephone operators, voice culturists, farmers etc. We, professionals who work with and for the blind should recognize this diversity and create programmes that nurture this diversity. I dream of agencies that create programmes for the individual abilities of the blind and not the other way around.
I see before me, a sea of young professionals like you who are successful and who have made it. But I see thousands of blind students who are unseen and unsung.
To quote Oliver God Smith:
‘Many a flower is born to blush unseen and
Waste its sweetness on the desert air”
I hope these unsung heroes find a chance or seize the opportunity to exhibit their talents.
While all of you are in tune with technology and have mastered it for increasing your own efficiency, I know a lot of successful blind people, many of them from my generation, who are afraid of embracing technology. They are successful Counselors, Professors, and Lawyers but are averse to technology. I remember the words of Alvin Toffler, Author of “Future Shock”, who wrote “The Illiterate of the 21st Century are not those, who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”. I wish all these friends make friends with technology and realize that it will only help them and make their lives easier.
When I look at the successful people in this room like Harish, Kanchan, Ranchhod, Pranay, Dinesh, Vikram, I realize that this number is not enough for the India of our dreams. I wish we could photocopy people like you and distribute them all over the length and breadth of India.
The Silent Section – When I look around this audience, I see greys, white brown mainly males in their formal wear. I see only a handful of my sisters who cannot see.
- Why are they so silent?
- Why are they invisible?
- Why are they marginalized?
These questions should taunt and haunt us till we provide equal access and opportunities to these women. All of us must make conscious, concerted and concrete efforts in this direction.
The other issue which touches my heart is the lot of blind people in rural areas. Agencies like the Blind People’s Association and National Association for the Blind have tried to level the chasm between the urban and rural blind by initiating community based services. These efforts are few and far between and we must pledge to do something positively and immediately for making rural blind persons aware of their rights.
Pass on the Heritage….
All of you here have achieved success because of the combined mix of your own efforts, efforts of your loved ones and contribution of society.
What, then, have each of you done for the empowerment of other blind people? May be to repay a debt of gratitude or to celebrate your own success, don’t you think you should selflessly strive to reach others not as fortunate as you? It is in our power to give, so we should give all we can while we can….
I appeal to all of you to pass on the heritage to as many blind people as you can but atleast three persons per year.
Lastly my wish is that media relays positive and factual images of blind people. If we are to have an informed and responsible media, we owe it to ourselves to feed them the right information of people like Gagandeep, who has got admission into IIM, Bangalore this year, of Dr. Samir Mansuri who is a Counselor to many Bollywood starts, of Nitya who was a Radio Jockey on Radio Mirchi or Ashish Mankad, a Chartered Accountant. We have many stories to tell but we need the courage, the commitment to follow up and reach that unreached star.
I end with a poem...
The Impossible Dream
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To be better far than you are
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest, to follow that star
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
And to fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march
Into hell for a heavenly cause
And I know if only I be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest
And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star
The sky is yours for the beckoning …….. reach out for the unreached star
Nandini Rawal
Project Director
Blind People’s Association
Ahmedabad.
The focus of both conferences was accessibility. I presented a paper on accessibility with Web 2.0 in CSI. The paper was OK. Overall, there were some interesting sessions in CSI -- like the one from the National Institute of Design (NID) about accessible design concepts developed by NID students as part of their project work.
The AI conference was organized at the Blind People's Association (BPA) and the BpA director Ms. Nandini Rawal gave the keynote address. This was definitely "the best" keynote address I have ever heard in any of the conferences I have ever attended. The lady spoke from her heart and had a lot of substance in what she was saying -- I'm totally impressed.
Interestingly enough, Kanchan -- the stage manager -- had the brain wave in the middle of this awesome keynote address that she didn't have anyone to do a "vote of thanks" or whatever it is that you should do in such conferences after the keynote address. Here I am sitting in a corner in the second row listening intently when I get a tap on my shoulder and a voice hangs over my shoulder and tells me in my ear: "sir, Kanchan madam aapko stage pe bula rahi hain. Aapko in madam ke liye vote of thanks karna hai."
I turn around flustered... She couldn't be serious, I thought to myself. "main nahin kar sakta" I reply. The guy goes: "Sir mujhe kya pata. Main toh siraf Kanchan madam ka message le ke aaya hun. Aap chal ke unse baat kar lo."
I see his logic and decide to move to the stage with him where kanchan is sitting right behind the speaker. In hushed voices:
I: Kanchan, what is this?"
kanchan: "Please do this. Will you do it?"
I: "But what is a vote of thanks? What am I supposed to say?"
Kanchan: "Just shut up and listen carefully to what she is saying and you need to summarize what she has said in your vote of thanks. Will you do it?"
I: (An extremely tentative) "ok"
At the end of it, I did manage to put together a couple of witty remarks that at least to me did summarize the address -- but really, I wish I could prepare such a seriously impressive presentation some day.
Update: Harish just posted the text of the presentation on the list. Pasting it below:
KEYNOTE ADDRESS OF NANDINI RAWAL
AT ACCESS INDIA CONFERENCE AT BLIND PEOPLE’S ASSOCIATION
21 September, 2008
My Dear Bright, Brilliant and Successful Friends,
I am so privileged to stand in front of you today. My heart is bursting with pride when I look at this gathering of young, savvy, qualified persons who are so confident, assured and charming. Blind people have come a long way from what I’d seen them 27 years ago when I joined the BPA.
I salute all of you achievers for your success but always remember “success is never final, failure is never fatal, it is courage that counts”.
As I stand before you, I am trying to remember the Keynote Addresses I have heard in the past. I can’t remember many because, probably, they failed to strike a chord in my heart. I therefore, decided to make my Keynote address, one that would touch your heart and being and remain with you.
I decided that I would share my dreams and visions with you so that all our tomorrows are bright and beautiful.
Power of the Dream:
My first dream is that Bill Gates sponsors the Jaws Software and gives it free to each needy person who is visually impaired. I wish that technology acts as the great leveler and acts as bridge between the blind and people who can see we can name the software “whispering windows”!!
My second dream is that each school for the blind starts believing in technology and is able to afford a computer for every blind student. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment should give computers to blind students as part of the Assistive Devices Scheme. This dream will thus be titled “Information Technology within reach of each.
Persons with visual impairment are all very different. They form a very diverse community. We have blind people who are physiotherapists, computer programmers, teachers, telephone operators, voice culturists, farmers etc. We, professionals who work with and for the blind should recognize this diversity and create programmes that nurture this diversity. I dream of agencies that create programmes for the individual abilities of the blind and not the other way around.
I see before me, a sea of young professionals like you who are successful and who have made it. But I see thousands of blind students who are unseen and unsung.
To quote Oliver God Smith:
‘Many a flower is born to blush unseen and
Waste its sweetness on the desert air”
I hope these unsung heroes find a chance or seize the opportunity to exhibit their talents.
While all of you are in tune with technology and have mastered it for increasing your own efficiency, I know a lot of successful blind people, many of them from my generation, who are afraid of embracing technology. They are successful Counselors, Professors, and Lawyers but are averse to technology. I remember the words of Alvin Toffler, Author of “Future Shock”, who wrote “The Illiterate of the 21st Century are not those, who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”. I wish all these friends make friends with technology and realize that it will only help them and make their lives easier.
When I look at the successful people in this room like Harish, Kanchan, Ranchhod, Pranay, Dinesh, Vikram, I realize that this number is not enough for the India of our dreams. I wish we could photocopy people like you and distribute them all over the length and breadth of India.
The Silent Section – When I look around this audience, I see greys, white brown mainly males in their formal wear. I see only a handful of my sisters who cannot see.
- Why are they so silent?
- Why are they invisible?
- Why are they marginalized?
These questions should taunt and haunt us till we provide equal access and opportunities to these women. All of us must make conscious, concerted and concrete efforts in this direction.
The other issue which touches my heart is the lot of blind people in rural areas. Agencies like the Blind People’s Association and National Association for the Blind have tried to level the chasm between the urban and rural blind by initiating community based services. These efforts are few and far between and we must pledge to do something positively and immediately for making rural blind persons aware of their rights.
Pass on the Heritage….
All of you here have achieved success because of the combined mix of your own efforts, efforts of your loved ones and contribution of society.
What, then, have each of you done for the empowerment of other blind people? May be to repay a debt of gratitude or to celebrate your own success, don’t you think you should selflessly strive to reach others not as fortunate as you? It is in our power to give, so we should give all we can while we can….
I appeal to all of you to pass on the heritage to as many blind people as you can but atleast three persons per year.
Lastly my wish is that media relays positive and factual images of blind people. If we are to have an informed and responsible media, we owe it to ourselves to feed them the right information of people like Gagandeep, who has got admission into IIM, Bangalore this year, of Dr. Samir Mansuri who is a Counselor to many Bollywood starts, of Nitya who was a Radio Jockey on Radio Mirchi or Ashish Mankad, a Chartered Accountant. We have many stories to tell but we need the courage, the commitment to follow up and reach that unreached star.
I end with a poem...
The Impossible Dream
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To be better far than you are
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest, to follow that star
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
And to fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march
Into hell for a heavenly cause
And I know if only I be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest
And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star
The sky is yours for the beckoning …….. reach out for the unreached star
Nandini Rawal
Project Director
Blind People’s Association
Ahmedabad.
Labels: Conference, public speaking
posted by Manish at 8:16 AM
2 Comments:
Random browsing led to your blog. One of the best keynote addresses I have read/heard in recent times. Hope you remember me, I had met you at Techshare.
One of the best I've heard as well. It doesn't sound half as powerful as it did when delivered by Nandini. I do remember you. Your blogger profile is disabled though, so, couldn't get to your page from your name above.
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