Blog
July 27, 2009
TiE Streeshakti – Shilpi Kapoor: Breaking barriers of disability
Filed under: Accessibility, News — Shilpi Kapoor @ 2:25 pmWith a view to fostering women entrepreneurship, Sify.com, in association with TiE Streeshakti (TSS), an entrepreneurship platform for Indian women, features a series on successful women entrepreneurs. TSS, set up by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), was conceptualized to reach out to women who run micro, medium and large-scale enterprises across manufacturing, services and social sectors.
For over two years, Shilpi Kapoor had been regularly interacting online from her Mumbai office with her US counterpart, Patrick (name changed).
While they had never met, they had been in constant touch over various projects handled by their networking consultancy firm. But one fateful day, Shilpi discovered that Patrick was a paraplegic, paralysed below the neck. The knowledge changed her life dramatically.
In 1995, Shilpi gave up a lucrative career to start a computer-training center for the disabled in association with an NGO and the Microsoft Bill Gates Foundation at her residence.
But she soon realized that even after ample training, there were no job opportunities for the disabled in India.”It was sad to see that we gave them (disabled people) hope but with nowhere to go,” says Shilpi, who has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from St.Xavier’s College and is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.
So she started Net Systems Solutions, now known as Net Systems Informatics (India) Pvt. Ltd. (N-syst), which provides knowledge management and accessibility solutions. In 1997, with the support and guidance of TiE Streeshakti, she also set up BarrierBreak Technologies, to provide accessibility consultancy services.
Today, 40 per cent of her 60 or so employees are physically challenged.
In 2008, Shilpi along with the Royal National Institute of Blind people (RNIB) UK organized the Techshare India conference, the first ever Accessibility and Disability conference to be organized in India.
The proud recipient of the Shell Helen Keller 2008 award in the Role Model category, Shilpi derives inspiration from the disabled. “Seeing them smile through what we perceive as an issue makes you understand that there is more to life,” she says.
Catch the full interview of Shilpi Kapoor at: http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?a=jhxqzAbdhfc&title=For_a_noble_caus
No CommentsJuly 22, 2009
HiSoftware and BarrierBreak Technologies Forge Strategic Partnership
Filed under: Accessibility Testing, News — Shilpi Kapoor @ 12:50 pm
Leading accessibility providers partner to offer end-to-end software and testing solutions throughout India
Nashua, NH, USA and Mumbai, India — July 21, 2009 — HiSoftware (www.hisoftware.com), a leading provider of software, services and managed operation solutions that monitor and optimize Web content, quality and regulatory compliance, and BarrierBreak Technologies (BarrierBreak) (http://www.barrierbreak.com), today announced a strategic partnership. As partners, the companies will be able to offer customers in India the robust combination of HiSoftware’s automated accessibility monitoring solution HiSoftware Compliance Sheriff™ and BarrierBreak’s range of accessibility training, testing and consulting services.
Shilpi Kapoor, BarrierBreak Technologies CEO, said, “India is a software development hub making it extremely important to address the needs of persons with disabilities and ensure adherence to accessibility standards and guidelines. BarrierBreak Technologies has been offering accessibility testing services for WCAG and Section 508. We have a team of testers that conduct manual and automated accessibility testing using assistive technology and accessibility tools. HiSoftware products will allow us to provide a valuable service offering to our clients that would include ongoing and periodic monitoring of their websites against accessibility standards and guidelines. We will also work with HiSoftware to ensure adherence to the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (http://web.guidelines.gov.in) which includes accessibility requirements.”
As a HiSoftware value-added solution partner, BarrierBreak will now resell HiSoftware’s accessibility and content compliance solution HiSoftware Compliance Sheriff™, in addition to their existing accessibility testing and consulting services offering. HiSoftware Compliance Sheriff provides organizations with an easy way to successfully develop and maintain best-of-breed web sites that promote the highest standards in Web governance, supporting a high quality user experience. It enables organizations to easily validate their website and applications content against standards-based and custom organizational policies for accessibility and privacy compliance. Compliance Sheriff allows organizations to integrate a comprehensive and automated solution for managing Web Governance standards as part their best practices.
Kurt A. Mueffelmann, HiSoftware president and CEO, states, “We are pleased to forge a key relationship with BarrierBreak, making our accessibility solutions readily available throughout India. By providing customers with HiSoftware’s leading automated accessibility solutions and their manual testing services, BarrierBreak can provide their customer with an end-to-end accessibility solution.”
About HiSoftware Inc.
Founded in 1998, HiSoftware Inc. (www.hisoftware.com) is a leading provider of software, services and On-demand solutions that test, repair, monitor and enforce Web content, quality and regulatory compliance. The company’s solutions empower content developers, Web site architects and executives to work collaboratively to create and manage corporate Web standards for accessibility, privacy, security, search engine optimization (SEO), site quality and performance, branding and application transaction testing.
About BarrierBreak Technologies (http://www.barrierbreak.com):
BarrierBreak Technologies is an innovative firm that provides solutions in the field of Accessibility for People with Disabilities based in India. BarrierBreak works with goverments, corporates, and institutions to provide accessibility training, accessibility testing and accessibility consulting services that would empower people with disabilities to avoid discrimination and enjoy equal rights and opportunities. BarrierBreak specializes in Accessibility testing and has been providing services to India, UK, Australia and the US.
No CommentsJuly 20, 2009
N.C.P.E.D.P. and BarrierBreak Technologies put forward National Policy on Electronic Accessibility
Filed under: Assistive Technologies, General — Shilpi Kapoor @ 6:08 pm
D.N.I.S. News Network: National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.) in association with BarrierBreak Technologies has come up with a draft for a National Policy on Electronic Accessibility. The objective of the policy is to provide persons with disabilities equal access to electronic and information and communication technology and services. This policy expands on the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which India has ratified.
Shilpi Kapoor, Managing Director, BarrierBreak Technologies says, “Technology today is there in all aspects of life. Using electronic and information and communication technology, we can bridge the barriers that exist for persons with disabilities. Such a policy needs to be applicable across different ministries and departments.”
The National Policy on Electronic Accessibility emphasizes the importance of creating awareness on accessibility and universal design and creating and implementing standards and guidelines. It also aims at promoting research and development in the area of universal design and assistive technology and independent living aids and schemes in the area of accessible electronic and information and communication technology.
The policy also emphasizes the importance of building capacity to ensure that accessible products and services can be developed in India.
Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, Centre for Internet and Society, feels positive about the draft. “Having a National Electronic Accessibility Policy would be an extremely positive move for India towards bridging the digital divide; it will serve as a leading example to other developing countries to take similar initiatives and create a truly inclusive and accessible world,” she said.
The draft will be placed before N.C.P.E.D.P.’s Core Group on Communication and Information Technology in its meeting on July 23 and the National Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities on July 24. Once the policy is approved at these two forums, it will be placed before the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology for their consideration.
Source: Disability News and Information Service
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