The Kollupitiya, Sri Lanka chapter of the Junior Chamber International (JCI) recently hosted a public and private sector-organised Diversity and Inclusion Career Day, wherein over 50 job interviews were carried out, which were mainly for persons with disabilities.
Featuring over 100 participants, the public and private sector-organised Diversity and Inclusion Career Day was endorsed by the government of Sri Lanka, and organisations like the Employees Federation of Ceylon, Enable Lanka and IDIRIYA, with Hemas, Toyota Lanka, MAS Active, HNB, Barista, Pizza Hut, Sri Lanka Insurance, MDF Consultants, World University Service of Canada (WUSC), Forte, The Traveller Global Private Limited, YAMU and McQuire Rens Global, amongst many others, conducting walk-in job interviews. Other partners for the event included Rotaract Club of ACBT, Emerging Media, Learn TV, Young Biologists Association, Kosala Dullewa Foundation, alfa MarTech, thenextbigthink and CPR.
Also noteworthy, Suranga Nanayakkara, an Assistant Professor of the Singapore University of Technology and Design, was on hand to showcase a number of exciting product prototypes that could help persons with disabilities in the workplace, such as “Finger Reader”, which works entirely on sensors to help a visually impaired persons “listen” to the words they drag their fingers along, and “Stick Ear”, a portable ear that aids the hearing impaired by lighting up different colors that are attuned to specific sounds.
Additionally, there were a number of well-attended “Experience Corners” like “Blindfold Simulation”, where participants donned blindfolds and attempts to perform simple, everyday tasks, as well as the “Basics of Sign Language”. The latter, conducted by a professional in the field, taught people the simple “signs”, and related words and/or letters, used by people with hearing impairments. These experiences attempted to simulate the effects of more common disabilities, giving participants and representatives of public and private sector organisations insights into what it means to be visually and/or hearing impaired.