Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan Joins G3ict as Senior Fellow and Program Director

ATLANTA (December 02, 2017) —

Well-known ICT accessibility expert, Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan, has joined the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs (G3ict) as a Senior Fellow and Program Director. In her capacity, she will be participating in the G3ict Executive Team and be responsible to oversee G3ict’s global editorial tools and resources, and to develop an Expertise Center supporting the development of ICT accessibility policies and advocacy programs for the Asia Pacific Region, based in Bangalore, India.

Dr. Narasimhan comes with over a decade of experience on issues of accessibility for persons with disabilities. She was a founding member of the Bangalore based not-for-profit research organisation Centre for Internet and Society, where she built up the Accessibility and Inclusion program on digital accessibility that gained significant recognition within India and internationally.

Welcoming her on board, G3ict President and Executive Director Axel Leblois said, “Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan has a very strong background and experience in policy development and advocacy in ICT accessibility matters. We have enjoyed collaborating with her on many occasions with great results. We very much look forward to having her join our team to help G3ict further develop its advocacy tools and outreach in the Asia Pacific Region.” “Dr. Narasimhan’s many years of effective hands-on advocacy will bring great value to our Global Advocacy Program,” added Francesca Cesa Bianchi, Vice President of Institutional Relations.

Dr. Narasimhan has been involved in drafting of key ICT accessibility related policies both for the Government of India, as well as other country governments. She has served on several Government of India committees, such as the committee to draft the National Policy on Universal Electronics Accessibility and the committee to revise the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites. She has provided inputs and submissions on key policy issues on ICT accessibility, education, employment, copyright, procurement, smart cities and telecom. She participated in the negotiation process for the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works For Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired or otherwise Print Disabled, at the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

In her new role, Dr. Narasimhan looks forward to bringing her experience of working with organizations of persons with disabilities and governments, particularly from Global South countries, to promote a coherent and comprehensive approach towards ICT accessibility in the region.

“I am really excited to be joining the G3ict team to deepen its engagement in the APAC region. As part of my brief, I will also be overseeing management of key global advocacy tools and resources such as the e-accessibility toolkit for policy makers,” Dr. Narasimhan said.

Dr. Narasimhan has earlier contributed to key G3ict publications and is the recipient of several awards. This includes the National Award from the President of India in 2010, the NIVH Excellence award in 2011, the NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design award in 2016 and has recently been selected to receive the prestigious NCPEDP-Mindtree Helen Keller award at New Delhi on 2nd December 2017.