Tamil Nadu Governor emphasises urgent need to address intellectual disabilities

Intellectual disabilities are increasingly becoming a key issue in the country and must be addressed as a top priority, Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi said. He noted that a solution has to be found for intellectual disability. Speaking at the South Zone Regional Abilympics and Conference 2025, Mr.Ravi said: “Developing technology which will benefit people with disabilities (PwDs) in the long run is the need of the hour. I am hopeful that institutes like IITM will come up with the right R&D for the PwD sector.”

Organised by the National Abilympic Association of India (NAAI) in collaboration with Sarthak Educational Trust, and supported by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Government of India, TPCDT, and IndusInd Bank, the event saw over 100 PwDs from across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Puducherry.

Jitender Aggarwal, Secretary-General of NAAI and Founder & CEO of Sarthak Educational Trust highlighted that they have help over 1 lakh people with disabilities to secure jobs. Mr.Aggarwal also pointed out that Sarthak Educational Trust is planning to launch Sarthak Global University, which is aimed to fill in the gaps in Early Intervention and therapy for infants and children, shortage of rehabilitation professionals and more. The plan is to start with 5 schools in 20 departments providing over 200 courses which is aimed to train 10,000 professionals specializing in disability rehab, inclusive education, assistive technology and more. This will enable 100,000 PwD’s through education, vocational training, and skill development programs.

V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras said, “ We have a centre developed for mobility in IITM. As a country we have the human capital to develop these technological needs which can benefit PwD’s in their daily life. We are looking forward to a long technical collaboration with Sarthak to provide mobility and accessibility solutions for PwD’s.”