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Sugandha Sukrutaraj talks about AMBA, a powerful, sustainable answer to the socio-economic needs of Indians challenged by autism.
What is a sustainable model that can help 35 million Indians lead empowered lives? Sugandha Sukrutaraj talks about AMBA, a powerful answer to the needs of India’s intellectually challenged.
AMBA is a business that employs over 60 intellectually challenged people to do back office work for other large businesses. It was founded with a vision to train, employ, and financially empower people with intellectual disabilities. And it has made a brilliant start in this direction, thanks to the Founder, Sugandha Sukrutaraj.
A typical working day at the AMBA office starts at 10 am, with the sound of phones ringing, keyboards ticking, and people talking. But what makes this organization truly unique is the fact that all of AMBA’s employees are intellectually challenged, i.e., every member of staff, barring the top two in the management, suffer from autism spectrum disorder.
Most people find it hard to believe that 3% of India’s population is intellectually disabled. For the most part, this is an ignored and disempowered section amongst us that depends on the immediate family, on institutions that care for them until they are 18 and on society’s charity thereafter. What we fail to recognize is that this population is ‘differently abled’, i.e., there are some things they can do and that they can do these things very well. In fact, the woman who trains the team at AMBA is someone with an intellectual disability.
What’s amazing about AMBA is that not only is it applying mainstream thinking to empowering people with disabilities, it is particularly focused on those within this community who have a lower ability. AMBA isn’t just an organization, it is the start of a sustainable model that can benefit 35 million Indians, if replicated right. Here’s a video from Chai with Lakshmi, where you get to see AMBA at work and hear Sugandha sharing about her pursuit. She is an amazing woman, watch her speak here!
An award-winning online talk show featuring people and ideas positively shaping India for the future. Anchored by Lakshmi Rebecca. Produced by Red Bangle. This show is over 120 episodes and 2.8 million views read more...
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Shows like Indian Matchmaking only further the argument that women must adhere to social norms without being allowed to follow their hearts.
When Netflix announced that Indian Matchmaking (2020-present) would be renewed for a second season, many of us hoped for the makers of the show to take all the criticism they faced seriously. That is definitely not the case because the show still continues to celebrate regressive patriarchal values.
Here are a few of the gendered notions that the show propagates.
A mediocre man can give himself a 9.5/10 and call himself ‘the world’s most eligible bachelor’, but an independent and successful woman must be happy with receiving just 60-70% of what she feels she deserves.
Darlings makes some excellent points about domestic violence . For such a movie to not follow through with a resolution that won't be problematic, is disappointing.
I watched Darlings last weekend, staying on top of its release on Netflix. It was a long-awaited respite from the recent flicks. I wanted badly to jump into its praise and will praise it, for something has to be said for the powerhouse performances it is packed with. But I will not be able to in a way that I really had wanted to.
I wanted to say that this is a must-watch on domestic violence that I stand behind and a needed and nuanced social portrayal. But unfortunately, I can’t. For I found Darlings to be deeply problematic when it comes to the portrayal of domestic violence and how that should be dealt with.
Before we rush to the ‘you must be having a problem because a man was hit’ or ‘much worse happens to women’ conclusions, that is not what my issue is. I have seen the praises and criticisms, and the criticisms of criticisms. I know, from having had close associations with non-profits and activists who fight domestic violence not just in India but globally, that much worse happens to women. I have written a book with case studies and statistics on that. Neither do I have any moral qualms around violence getting tackled with violence (that will be another post some day).