Show notes:

What role can technology play in breaking down barriers and building inclusion? Can AI be a force for good? There is sufficient research to show that assistive technology can be a game changer for people with disabilities enabling them to be more independent(self-care) and improving their participation in social interactions, education, employment etc. So, when I came across an article by Prateek Madhav on assistive technology, I jumped to the chance to invite him to be a guest on The 🐘 in the Room.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a staggering 16% of the world’s population or 1in 6 of us or about 1.3 billion people experience significant disability. Under international human rights law, sometimes domestic laws countries have an obligation to address the inequities faced by persons with disabilities. Disability inclusion is an imperative to achieving the SDGs. However, disabled people face huge barriers to accessing education, livelihood opportunities and of course there are stereotypes and stigma that continues to prevail.

It was inspiring to hear about technology for good, about innovations that are enablers to inclusion and help people live more fulfilling lives. AssisTech Foundation(ATF) the non-profit founded by Prateek Madhav aims to build an ecosystem that leverages innovations by technology startups in assistive technology. Today, the foundation is the world’s fastest and largest ecosystem of assistive technology, with a network 450 innovators and startups in India and access to 1200 globally. Through the Inclusive InnovationNetwork (+N) (IIN) that he co-founded, Prateek Madhav aims to create a global ecosystem for collaboration and peer learning by partnering with entrepreneurs and investors.

The vision is for ATF to become an impact unicorn – creating scalable impact on the

lives of at least a billion people. The big takeaway for me, is that social

impact companies can be a force for good and help address some of the biggest

problems facing our communities and the world. ATF shows that is possible.

To get your daily/weekly dose of inspiration and hear more about the ATF head to the podcast. Link in the comments 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

Episode Transcript:

Sudha: Good afternoon, Prateek. Thank you for being a guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast today.

Prateek: Thank you very much for the invitation. It's a pleasure to be here.

Sudha: We always start with an introduction. So please share a brief introduction with our listeners.

Prateek: Thank you. So, my name is Prateek Madhav.

I'm the co-founder and CEO of AssisTech Foundation. I grew up in North part of India, in a town called Jaipur. Out of house for 25 years. So don't know my kids probably are more Bangalore kids than Jaipur kids. I went to NIT Jaipur and then IM Calcutta to do my MBA.

I've lived in multiple countries, chose to come back to India for good reasons. The way I think of my life is that probably I'm living the second one. The first one professionally was in corporate, so I worked for 18, 20 years for corporate organisations and I loved the roles. It gives you visibility, it gives you opportunity to travel, meet different people, but what's more interesting honestly is the second life, which is where the attempt is to create more awareness about disability inclusion, create an ecosystem, which will use the technology innovation to help people with disabilities.

I'm sure we'll talk more about it. But yeah, I mean, beyond all this which I shared with you i'm a runner. Recently done a 500-kilometer cycling tour. Finished a couple of weeks back, next year aspiration to enter triathlons. So yeah, `that’s on the sights, but I'm very thankful to get these opportunities, to do different things and definitely blessed with a lot of good people around me.

But thank you again for inviting for this podcast and having this conversation.

Sudha: The thing about second innings really resonates with me. I faced barriers to career progression in the UK. And at that time, I didn't realize that this was an opportunity and a new beginning and a new start. And there was a lot of angst, but I'm so grateful now that I'm here on this journey and that I'm able to speak with people like you who inspire me every single day.

 Prateek, what inspired you to start the AssisTech Foundation, and what is your vision for it?

Prateek: Sure, and thank you for asking that question. See, like I said, I started volunteering in the second life for various different disability focused organisations. In fact, my early experiences was to be a part of the organizing committee of first ever T20 World Cup Blind Cricket which we organized way back in 2012 in India, Bangalore. And we were a small non-profit sitting with an aspiration of doing a World Cup. How uncool and foolish that could be. But we did it, and I have to tell you what fun it was to really see, 10 countries, including India, playing the first ever T20 World Cup cricket for the blind.

And I don't know if you or the listeners understand how blind cricket is being played. It's played with a white ball, which makes sound.  So, we did that World Cup. And in fact, I'm very happy to share that, that year India won the final beating Pakistan in it. It was a great experience for me personally and I continued volunteering for different disability focused organisations.

I was a part of the advisory of Dr. Reddy's Foundation and many other organisations. Now when I think of your question of inspiration, there's no one day or one instance. As I was spending more and more time along with my corporate roles in disability, I realized that number one, we were looking at challenges of different sort. Now, all of us know that we are talking about 1. 4 billion people with disabilities in the world, which makes us one in six or one in seven of us have, some or other kind of disability.

In India, somewhere around 70 to 80 million people with disabilities. So, we're talking about enormous challenge. And while we think about this large number, I looked around to see who was trying to solve the problems of people with disabilities to help them learn better, to help them get into employment While there were very, amazing organisations around me. One observation was they were using very 14th centuryish solutions. While our life was getting transformed through tech, we were getting access to online digital content faster, better, easier ways to travel, order food all that cool stuff.

People with disabilities were not given that opportunity. So that's number one. Second unlike a lot of us believed in, they were happy people and I have to tell you I have so many friends with disabilities. They are full of joy, full of aspiration. They may or may not have resources like you and I, but unlike my corporate employees who had everything but complained. People with disabilities live with a lot of hope very confident YouTube. And third, because my day job was to build technology, infrastructure, technology platforms I started realizing the same phenomenal tech can also be used to help people with disabilities learn, get employed, or live a very independent life. So, my curiosity was to see how I can use my skills, connect. knowledge experiences to help this section of society, which has been ignored is where the seeds started.

In those years, I started working with a lot of technology entrepreneurs and they would come to me. I took a sabbatical from Accenture to be full time CEO of a large nonprofit in India.

And a lot of technology innovators will come to me with their innovations. And I saw an opportunity in helping them. And if we had created a platform to help them, they will in turn help so many people with disabilities where the thought and the journey started, but I'll take a pause, if you have any follow up questions, but I'm happy to talk more about ATF and the vision.

Sudha: No, I think it's amazing because, yeah, we always think that everyone has an aha moment where you suddenly in one moment decide. But I think there is always a series of things and experiences that inspire us. Rather than just one thing for most of us.

Please, I'd love to hear more about the vision.