THANK YOU ALL FOR MAKING ONE -The Confluence one of our MOST SUCCESSFUL Events.
The response was OVERWHELMING to say the least.  Pictures below.

ONE- The Confluence  on 3rd and 4th of December,  2013. 
Organized by EKansh Trust.
Venue: MCCIA, Senapati Bapat Marg, Pune. 

 We invited Students, Activists, Professors, Teachers, Professionals and  Friends with Disabilities to attend.

Schedule in brief: 
Day One- 3rd December: 9.30AM - 5PM
 First half:  Architecture and Design
Second Half  -  Communication and Mass media. Introduction to Indian Sign Language
Day Two - 4th December: 9AM - 5PM
First Half :  A] Sensitization RTI, Law, and Rights of PwD B] HR, CSR, Education 
Second Half : A] New advances in technology, therapy and treatment B] Caregivers' workshop

All sessions were well attended and even better received. Thank you.

Day 1: Panelists 

 Architecture  and Design:

Arch Radhika  Vaidya:  an  Architect and Town planner. In 1983 she co-founded the practice and is a partner  in ‘Aniruddha Vaidya and Associates’ based in Pune, India.
Prof. Kavita  Murugkar: B. Arch.  | M.A in Archeology . Prof BNCA. Has taken keen interest in the subject of  Inclusive architecture 
Prof.  Abhijit Natu: PhD:  Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Prof BKPS. Keen eye for inclusive  design. His team won the award for best barrier free design in EKansh Trust’s  first competition in 2009. 
Ferdinand  Rodricks: Designs  and modifies cars for People with Disabilities. Recipient of   many prestigious awards including the National Award. He had also  modified a car for Stephen Hawking during his visit to India. 
 
Mass  communication and Media
Umesh Kulkarni:   Extremely successful Marathi film director. He is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. He is known for Marathi films such as Valu, Vihir and Deool -which won National Awards. He has also made a documentary 'Three of us' about a special family.
Sundeep Rao:  Stand up comic from  Bangalore with a sense of humour and partial blindness. He has an outlook on  life that inspires sighted people. He performs regularly around the country. 
 Ranjana  Dani:   MIT Institute of Design: An experienced teacher, teaching Graphic Design,  Visualization, Advertising and Marketing Theory and Branding and Innovative  Strategy.

INDIAN SIGN LANGUAGE DEMONSTRATION: EKansh Trust's interpreter  Bharati Lele, educationist for Children with Hearing Impairments.

Day  2: Panelists

HR,  CSR and Education:

Leandra Mendonsa: Vice president BNY Mellon, Manager Communications and events. Drives hard for  Diversity and inclusion in the work space. Instrumental in the recruitment of  PwD through EKansh Trust’s Job Fair. 

Dhananjay  Bhole: He has been  visually challenged since birth. As  a coordinator, Mr. Dhananjay Bhole played a key role in establishing the Blind  Student’s Learning Centre at University of Pune. He has won many prestigious awards for his pathbreaking work.
Sujata Bhan: M.A., M.Phil., B.Ed.,Ph.D.  Professor Sujata Bhan is a trained psycho-educationist, clinical  psychologist, and teacher educator. She is actively involved in teaching,  research, and training teachers in different parts of the country. She has been  working in the Department of Special Education, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai,  for more than 20 years. Prof. Bhan has conducted extensive research in special  education in national and international projects. She has presented and  published papers and articles in national and international conferences. Her  area of specialization is clinical psychology and Visual Impairment.
Sukalpa  Chakrabarti:  [PhD]  Asst Professor (IR & Public Policy) Symbiosis School of Economics (SSE),  into CSR by choice and not by training. She strongly feels that the  sensitization should begin right from childhood if we are to truly become a  socially responsible nation---and that is where education plays a strong role.  It is this belief that made her start a CSR course for students at SSE which has  now led to creation of a student led CSR club. A small beginning that makes her  content that some mindsets are changing and changing for the  better. 


RTI,  Law and Rights

Vinita  Deshmukh: Nav Bharat Democratic  Party's Lok Sabha Candidate for 2014. Senior Journalist, RTI columnist  & activist. Award winning journalist Vinita Deshmukh has had a multi-faceted career in journalism for the last 26 years. She has won the prestigious Chameli Devi Jain award for outstanding media person in 2009 for her investigative series on Dow Chemicals. She has also won The Statesman Rural Reporting Award twice in 1998 and 2005. She has won the Top Management Consortorium (TMC) award for excellence in journalism in 2010 amongst others. Vinita is a champion campaigner for use of Section 4 of the RTI Act which allows  citizens to conduct inspection of files in government offices. Her achievements and accolades are too many to list. A simple google  search will tell you more. 
Murtaza  Cherawala: Founder partner of Chherawala & Nalwala, his state-of-the-art solutions, eye for  detail, client sensitivity, analytical expertise, entrepreneurial enterprise  and leadership skills have helped him in notching up a wide and loyal customer  base, comprising large corporate houses, industrial sectors, social bodies,  educational institutes and professionals. He is also an advocate for an  inclusive society and always ready to fight for the rights of People with Disabilities
 Professor Sanjay Jain. LL.M., Ph.D. Sanjay Jain is an Assistant Professor at the ILS  Law College, Pune, and has a teaching experience of more than thirteen years. He  is visually impaired with both the eyes. He is a Disability Rights Activist and has adjudicated issues pertaining to rights of disabled in the courts. He has  authored two books and a number of articles which are published in various  journals. He is recipient of many awards for efficiency and professional  competency which include Ideal Teacher Award instituted by Mahavir International  on the occasion of the Teachers’ Day, 5th Sept 2004 and the ‘Most Efficient  Disabled Teacher’ – a national award at the auspicious hands of Hon’ble  President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on the occasion of World Disabled Day,  3rd December 2004 instituted by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,  Govt. of India.

 New Advancements: 

Dr. Ramesh Sathe: Over Fifteen Hundred People with  Visual Impairments  from Pune and around have improved their vision with the low cost, low vision devices manufactured by Dr. Ramesh Sathe
Nandita Paul : Cerebral Palsy and Conductive Education: MA [Eng Lit] , B.Ed, `Learning Support /  Remedial Teaching and SEN Educator [Over 25 years exp]. Practiced Conductive  Education with children with C.P. in Dubai for 8 years.  [Volunteer and  member with EKansh Trust]
Pushpa Ramachandran: MA, CCC-SLP has been a speech language pathologist since 2002. She currently practices online and delivers customized speech therapy to patients across the world via tele-practice/  internet tele-therapy. Her areas of expertise include: alternative and augmentative communication; pediatric speech/language disorders; brain injury rehabilitation post stroke or  trauma and parent training for children with language impairments.

All above sessions will be moderated and facilitated by the EKansh Trust team. 

CAREGIVERS' WORKSHOP 
Caregiving is a special effort and EKansh Trust believes that Caregivers are perhaps the most important and neglected group in the Disability world. This module was moderated and facilitated by CAREGIVERS' LINK. Click here for details.