a2i's Vashkar Bhattacharjee honored at 2021 D-30 Disability Impact List

Vashkar Bhattacharjee, the National Consultant for Accessibility of a2i, has been selected as a 2021 D-30 Disability List honoree on the eve of the celebration of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The D-30 Disability Impact List honored the unique accomplishments of the most impactful community members globally under a nomination and selection process. 

Lived with a disability since birth, Vashkar Bhattacharjee also serves as Program Manager of YPSA (Young Power in Social Action), cares passionately about the issues and challenges around disability and, in particular, about accessibility and inclusion. For the last 15 years, he has been working for Persons with Disabilities by policy formulation, advocacy, innovating assistive and accessible technologies. He has won the UNESCO award, as the first Bangladeshi, for the Digital Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in 2018.

Pioneering the University of Chittagong as the first inclusive university in the country, Vashkar converted 200,000+ pages of reading materials in accessible formats and trained 500+ Persons with Disabilities on ICT skills and assistive technologies. He also supports government initiatives to make information and services accessible for Persons with Disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic as National Helpline 333 and myGov.

Speaking on his accomplishments in the 2021 D-30 Disability Impact List, Vashkar Bhattacharjee stated that receiving any award is a matter of great pleasure. "As a pioneer in Bangladesh, I would like to add more about my DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) Project, which started in 2005.  I have converted more than 200 thousand pages of reading and informational materials into Daisy format notably. The conversion of all the textbooks of Class 1-12 and creation of Bangladesh's 1st Accessible Dictionary awarded by the UNESCO in 2018," he said. 

In addition to the UNESCO award, Vashkar has received a number of other international and national recognitions for his contribution, such as the Bangladesh Prime Minister's Award 2016, the Henry Viscardi Award 2017, and the International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing from the London Book Fair 2015 and so on.