Year 2007 In January 2007 I was invited for three radio programmes half an hour each. I am happy about it. In January we had the Annual General meeting of the Colombo District Branch of the Sri Lanka Federation Of The Visually Handicapped. I was selected as the President. In January I attended a Policy Development seminar at the Wadduwa Holiday Resort Hotel in Sri Lanka. This was organized by the Disability Organisations Joint Front and was conducted by Dr. Padmani Mendis. The following areas were covered at the seminar. 1 The Disability Act of Sri Lanka. 2 Draft National Policy on disability of Sri Lanka. 3 Accessibility for persons with disabilities. 4 United Nations Escap Bivako Millennium Framework. 5 United Nations Convention of disability In March 2007 I started doing I.C.T. training at the Sri Lanka Federation of the Visually Handicapped. In March there was an International Women’s Day celebrations organized by the Ministry of Social Services at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. Minister of Social Services, Minister of Women’s Affairs and Minister of Housing Development were present at the occasion. I had to do a presentation on “Disability and facing challenges”. I was awarded the “Diriya Kantha 2007 award. (most outstanding woman with a disability 2007) My name was on 17 March “Daily News” paper and there was photograph of mine on 18 March “Sunday Observer” news paper. In March and April I did two radio programmes half an hour each. The producer was happy about my performance. In March and April I did a fund raising project to raise funds for the Colombo District Branch of the Sri Lanka Federation Of The Visually Handicapped. We printed some Vesak cards and sold them Rs. 20 each. All these money will be utilized for the benefit of the visually impaired persons. In May 2007 I attended a training in Project Management at Hotel Renuka. This was organized by the Disability Organisations’ Joint Front and was conducted by the Centre For Advancement Of Resource Mobilisation. The following areas were covered. 1 The history of Project management. 2 Proposal Writing 3 Problem Analyzing 4 Development Of Project Proposals 5 Project Monitorization and evaluation In May I did a radio programme for half an hour. In May I attended a training on Human Resource Management at Hotel Renuka. This was organized by the Disability Organisations’ Join Front and was conducted by the Centre For Advancement Of Resource Mobilisation. In May I attended a conference on “Rights Of Women With Disability” at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. The Chief guest was the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Ms. Sumedha Jayasena. I had a presentation on “How to include women with disabilities in the mainstream”. On 25 May, the “Daily News” news paper carried a photograph of mine with the Minister. On 25 May, the “Dinamina” news paper my name was there in an article about the conference. They showed it in TV news as well. The Disability Organisations’ Joint Front in their latest quarterly news letter published an full page article about me with a photograph of mine under the theme “ Great Characters”. The Disability Organisations’ Joint Front –DOJF had their annual general meeting in May. I was elected as the Vice President. In June 2007 I did a radio programme at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. It was an half an hour discussion on “how to include women with disabilities to the mainstream”. In June I was invited for a half and hour TV programme named “Nuga Sewana”, in the “Rupavahini” channel. to speak on disability. In June I did a presentation at a conference organized by the Employers’ Federation Of Ceylon, for the Chief Executive Officers of private sector organizations, at E.F.C. I did a presentation on how to encourage employers to employ persons with disabilities. In July 2007 there was an article about me in the internet on “Lanka Business Online” website, titled “More Empathy”. lankabusinessonline In July I was on the “Business Report” programme on the “E T V” TV channel. In August 2007 there was an article about me in the Asia Pacific Development Centre On Disability – Thailand website, titled “Sri Lankan Firms View Disabled People In New Light”. apcdproject.org In August I went on a four day trip with my parents. First day we went to Kataragama. We attended some religious ceremonies. Second day we went to Wadahiti Kanda temple to attend some religious activities. This temple is in a big mountain. Either you can climb it by foot or you can pay and go in a special jeep. We went in the jeep. Second day afternoon we went to the Yala jungle on a safari tour. We saw many animals such as elephants, deer, crocodiles, peacocks, birds, leopard, fox, wild bore etc. On the third day we went to Udawalawe. We went on a safari tour in the jungle. We saw about 50 elephants. On fourth day we went to see an elephant transit camp and came back home. In September 2007 I did two radio programmes half an hour each. In one programme I spoke about I.C.T. for V.I.P. And on the other programme I spoke about “Is a disabled woman treated as a woman”. In October 2007 I did a presentation on “Effective Communication” at Trans Asia Hotel at a seminar for the telephone operators organized by the Lions Club. In October I organized a Dental Camp for the visually impaired persons to commemorate the International White Cane Day which falls on 15 October. Members of the Colombo District branch of the Sri Lanka Federation of the Visually Handicapped benefited from this dental camp. In October I attended a programme organized by the Sri Lanka Association for Administration & Professional Secretaries at Galle Face Hotel. In October I went to Kandy (Hill country). We went to see the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, the Dalada Maligawa (place where the tooth relic of Lord Buddha is kept) and to the Ceylon Tea Museum. In November 2007 I went to New Delhi, India, to attend a conference on “Employment placement for the blind” organized by the Asian Blind Union at Hotel Centaur. The tour was really interesting and knowledgeable. There were 27 delegates from 17 countries. 5 countries from South Asia, 4 countries from Central Asia and 8 countries from the Middle-east. The following areas were covered at the conference. Conceptual frame work on placement of the visually impaired. Qualities of a good placement officer. Job identification and job profiling. New approach towards the employment of the blind. Over coming negative and stereo type attitudes of the employer. Search engine optimization and the visual impaired professional. Employment opportunities for the visually impaired in various professions and tourism. Self employment and entrepeneurship of the persons with vision impairment. Industrial employment. Income generation activities in rural areas. We also went on a field visit to the Indian Blind Relief Association to see how visually impaired persons engage in various self employment areas. Their products are sold in the same premises as well. We were also taken on sight seeing and a little bit of shopping as well. We went to see the India Gate, Official residence of the Prime-minister – Rastrapatibawan” and the Indian parliament. I spend the final day of my tour at the Indian Spinal Injury Centre. In December 2007 I attended an International Conference on Resource Mobilisation organized by the Centre for Advancement of Resource Mobilisation at Ceylon Continental. There were participants from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The following areas were covered in the conference. Fund Raising Fundamentals Corporate Fund Raising Writing winning Proposals Raising Friends, Fun and Funds through events Productivity Software for Non Profits Pains and Pleasure of Fundraising Organisational Readiness for Fundraising Sustainability of Non Profits; Cause Related Marketing Identifying Key Themes for Sustainability Developing Strategies for Sustainability Management. Fundamentals of Anti Corruption : Right to Information tools Parliamentary oversight Major issues identified at the Plenary on Fundamentals of Anti Corruption Civil Society Participation on Governance Strategies to engage your Board efficiently Enterprise Governance Change in role of the Bards Organizational growth strategies and need and nature/need for Governance Formulating a Governance Policy for your organization; Building Capability in Non Profit Organisations Engaging inspiring people How organizations coach and develop People Managing Performance in organizations The Human Resources Challengers for Sri Lanka and Region In December The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon published a book on “Barrier Free Access for the Disabled”. It will be given free of charge for anybody who is interested. This book launch was held at Hotel Hilton. In December on the International Day for Persons With Disabilities there was an article published about me in the “Island” news paper. In December I was invited for two radio programmes half an hour each. In one programme I spoke about the activities of the Employers’ Network on Disability. And in the other programme I spoke about Employment placement for persons with disabilities. In December we had our office trip. We went to Kani Lanka Hotel in Kalutara and spend the day there. It was a very enjoyable day. Hope this mail finds you well. I am writing this mail to you with the object of exploring possibilities and seeking your sincere advice. I have over the past couple of years had the opportunity to speak to audiences regarding my life experiences, my work and philosophy of life. The reception to my talks have been encouraging and the feedback in most cases have been good. This has prompted me to think of consciously promoting myself as an inspirational speaker. Speaking has been a passion with me, I have enjoyed it and believe that I have the talent and ability to communicate and create an impact. Further, I believe that my life as a visually impaired person and the way in which I have pursued my dreams could be a great motivation for people. Do you think it is practical for me to consider making a trip to your country just for speaking engagements? Do you think people will be happy to pay to have me as a speaker? Would you be able to help me create the speaking opportunities? I believe that this venture will not only be inspirational for people who engage with me, but also be a source of income for me to sustain myself while I build on the work I am doing with the blind in Sri Lanka. I would certainly appreciate an honest response from you. If you have any questions, do feel free to write back. We could even look at a mutually fruitful arrangement for our way forward.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 09:59:35 +0000
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