Seven years ago, Himanshu Mittal met with an accident in which his spinal cord was injured and left him wheelchair-bound. It didn’t stop him from taking over his family business, but when he found that he was unable to scale it up, he decided to upgrade his skills and knowledge base. His determination to grow his business led to him getting a seat in one of the country’s top management schools, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB).
The 24-year-old is one of 12 differently abled students to complete IIMB’s rigorous Post Graduate Programme in Management. They will graduate on Friday.
Mr. Mittal, who hails from Faridabad in Haryana, has been placed with Deloitte India as a consultant. “Generally, there is this mindset that a person on a wheelchair will not be able manage pressure, and work in the corporate world. I decided to change this. I want to be a successful entrepreneur and, for that, I am ready to take on any challenge,” he said.
Fellow student Kunal V. Mehta, a 26-year-old from Bengaluru who is visually challenged, has been placed with a top Indian conglomerate. He aspires to work for a couple of years and gain experience so that he can launch his own company in the food industry.
“I got all academic support from the institute, such as provision of scribes to appear for exams and professors who were willing to do their bit to make my learning experience smooth and enjoyable. There was a well laid out policy on disabilities, and the awareness about it among stakeholders was extremely helpful,” he said.
IIM taught him the importance of minute details while never losing perspective of the bigger picture.
The Office of Inclusion, IIMB, aims to provide an enabling and inclusive environment so that students with disabilities can realise their potential and lead a life as independently as possible, not only while they are at the institute, but with confidence throughout the career they choose thereafter.
Rajluxmi V. Murthy, Chair, Office of Inclusion, said that as an institute, IIMB goes beyond the legal requirements to create a truly supportive and discrimination-free environment, both academically and non-academically.
“The fact that these students have been able to leverage their abilities and make it to the PGP at IIMB, despite the not-so-accessible environment in our country, speaks volumes of their capabilities. They are no different from the rest of the batch in terms of what they can achieve. No company needs to think twice about how any of our students will perform in jobs and the careers they choose as long as it is committed to providing equal opportunities and an accessible environment,” she said.
