Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Office of the State Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities and Disability Alliance for Inclusive Goa, in association with Sanjay Centre for Special Education, will celebrate Women’s Day on Saturday, March 11.
The annual programme ‘Spoorthi’ will include a talk on Empowering Women with Disabilities.
This year, the keynote speaker for the function will be Preethi Srinivasa, founder of Soulfree, a foundation in Tamil Nadu’s Chennai to restore, rehabilitate and reintegrate persons with disabilities into society.
Sulakshana Sawant, president of Padmini Foundation, will be the function’s Chief Guest, and Alka Phaldessai, State Executive Member of BJP, will be the Guest of Honour.
Also, Minister of Social Welfare Subhash Phaldessai, State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities Guruprasad Pawaskar and Secretary, Office of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Taha Haaziq, will be present on occasion, which will begin at 9.30 a.m. at Sanjay Centre for Special Education in Porvorim.
“Every year, we celebrate International Women’s Day, and this year too, after the success of Purple Fest, we would like to continue interactions with persons with disability in society. There is a need to highlight issues of persons with disabilities, as it helps us chalk out plans for the future,” said Guruprasad Pawaskar.
Various NGOs from across the state and organisations have been invited to be part of this programme, thus making it inclusive for all.
Pawaskar added that the keynote speaker, Preethi Srinivas’s journey through life is inspiring, and her work for the disabled through Soulfree has allowed persons with disability to live empowered and independent lives.
The 20,000 sq ft facility of Soulfree INSPIRE Centre is the first-of-its-kind integrated spinal rehabilitation in India- with an integrated spinal rehabilitation centre.
Srinivasan is also the first woman with a 90% disability to enrol in a PhD programme at an IIT.
She believes that the fight for women with significant impairments in India should continue to be highlighted.
