When designed with lived experience at their heart, AI tools like conversational screen readers, adaptive dashboards, and real-time captioning don’t just break down barriers; they expand the possibilities. They transform access into agency and the freedom to learn, lead and contribute fully.
Avoiding a “shinier version of the same old prejudice”
Surashree Rahane was born with several physical disabilities, including clubfoot and polymelia, a condition in which affected individuals are born with extra limbs. Growing up in a family where disability was a part of everyday life, she never saw it as a limitation, but simply another way of navigating the world.
“My mentors always told me: don’t just look for jobs, create them,” she shares. “That’s how I learned that leadership itself is about inclusion. »
Ms. Rahane is now the founder and CEO of Yearbook Canvas, a technology platform specializing in digital yearbooks for academic institutions. As she started her business, she saw the persistence of structural barriers, such as inaccessible infrastructure, biased financing networks, and inflexible education systems.
To address these challenges, she currently works at the Newton School of Technology near New Delhi, focusing on inclusive academic design and AI-based learning tools that adapt to the pace of each student. “AI can democratize access to education,” she says, “but only if we teach it to understand the diversity of learners. Otherwise, we risk building a shinier version of the same old bias.”
Assistive technologies empower people with disabilities.
“The Great Equalizer”
From text-to-speech tools for people with speech disabilities to gesture-based wheelchair controls, technology is now breaking down barriers once considered permanent.
Prateek Madhav, CEO of AssisTech Foundation (ATF), describes AI as “the great equalizer”. “While the world is worried about AI taking jobs,” he says, “for people with disabilities, AI is creating them. »
Ketan Kothari, consultant at Xavier Resource Center for the Visually Impaired in Mumbai, demonstrates how AI tools have made him completely independent at work. “Today, I can format a document, access meetings with live captions, and even generate visual descriptions through apps,” he explains. “AI has turned imagination into function.”
The Purple Fest primarily features Indian entrepreneurs and business leaders, but, as Tshering Dema of the United Nations Development Coordination Office points out, “this is not the story of a single country, it is a global transition. Inclusion is not just about laws or infrastructure; it is about mindset and shared design. The future of work must be built not just for people, but with them.”
