75+ Hearing Impaired Employees Shine as Zepto's Newest Cafe Partners

Zepto is onboarding 75+ individuals with hearing impairment and plans to add another 250 individuals with disabilities to its workforce. As the newest Café Partners at Zepto, these individuals are not only exceling in their roles but also breaking down barriers. Take Arkan and Furkan, two brothers who joined Zepto in Ahmedabad and mastered barcode scanning and order preparation in under four days. Or Sushil, selected for the Valsad store in Gujarat, who credits his new role with boosting his confidence. What's more, colleagues without disabilities are learning sign language to facilitate communication and embracing diversity with open arms.

Nagarro Partners with Archana Gokhale to Paint a Picture of Inclusion and Empowerment

Welcome to the enchanting realm of Archana Gokhale's art! Based in Bengaluru, her artwork is like a window into a fantastical world, where the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur. Despite her hearing impairment, Archana is a self-taught expert in animation and graphic design, having built a global following for her art teaching practice. This Wednesday, Nagarro invited Archana to conjure her magic in their Bangalore office. During a live art session, she guided employees in co-creating a stunning artwork on the theme "Breaking Bias." The result was nothing short of enchanting! Archana also showcased her mesmerizing artwork, including paintings of the animal kingdom, handmade keychains, and magnets.

US Firms Pause DEI, India Stays Committed

A shift in the US political landscape has led some American firms to roll back their DEI best practices and relegate them to the fine print. Recently, Accenture scrapped its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) targets, following similar actions taken by Meta, Alphabet, and others. In a departure from this trend, Indian companies are not following suit. In fact, Indian companies have a long history of hiring people with disabilities, even before DEI became a mainstream concept. Notably, Titan hired individuals with speech and hearing impairments for its watch assembly unit as early as 1990. Similarly, Café Coffee Day (CCD) began hiring speech and hearing-impaired employees in the late 1990s.

Last Friday, Vineet Saraiwala, Founder and CEO of Atypical Advantage, moderated a powerful panel discussion at Tata Power Renewable. Tata Power Renewable has achieved a milestone by hiring over 100 persons with disabilities at its single plant in Tirunelveli, a first for any renewable firm globally. Himal Tewari, Group CHRO of Tata Power, discussed this initiative and highlighted the Tata Group's long-standing commitment to inclusivity since its inception. Amrita Ganguly, Chief Diversity Officer of Tata Motors, shared the company's plans to employ over 250 persons with disabilities across various plants. It's time for India to take the lead and showcase true inclusion to the world.

Colourful tribal celebration by Sahil Baghdadi is a Warli art, one of the richest and oldest forms of Indian folk art. With a twist of colourful & embellished appearance, the painting showcases the joy of celebration between a couple.

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Atypical Advantage is India’s largest livelihood platform for Persons with Disabilities(PWD). Whether it is a singer looking for a show, a visual artist looking to sell their paintings, or job seekers with disabilities looking for career opportunities, it bridges the supply & demand side inefficiencies so that Persons with Disabilities can earn a dignified income. We have a large pool of 25,000+ talents with disabilities and have worked with 350+ corporates within a short span of 4 years. We were also featured on Shark Tank Season 2 and were declared the winner of the prestigious National Startup Award for Social Impact, and the National Award for Best Organization empowering persons with disabilities in 2024, conferred by the Union Government. For more information, visit our website here.