Empowered Committee for Differently-abled Persons

ECDAP

The ACDAP

The University of Hyderabad is complying with and following the instructions contained in the UGC Accessibility Guidelines and Standards for Higher Education Institutions and Universities – 2022. The Advisory Committee for Differently Abled Persons (ACDAP), headed by the Vice-Chancellor is the apex body on matters of disability at the University of Hyderabad. The ACDAP has internal and external members having expertise in the NGO sector, rehabilitation services, accessibility & disability law and disability studies.

Prof. B. J. Rao, Vice-Chancellor. – Chairperson
Prof. Pentakota Sreenivas, CEA&O Sciences. – Member
Shri. N. Annavram, Dept. of Sociology. – Member
Shri. A. Srinivas Rao, Joint Registrar. – Member
Ms. B. Gnana Sruthi (24MCCE52) – Students Representative
Ms. Ch. Shirisha (24HTMA49) – Students Representative
Shri. Shivaji Rao, Trustee, Help the Blind Foundation (NGO), Chennai. – Member
Dr. N. Vasanthi, Centre for Disability Studies, NALSAR University. – Member
Prof. Pammi Pavan Kumar, Coordinator, ECDAP. – Convenor

The ECDAP

The Empowered Committee for Differently Abled Persons (ECDAP) was established in the year 2008. It is in compliance with the University Grants Commission’s (UGC’s) mandate of having an Enabling Unit/Resource Unit/Need Assessment Board for the empowerment of students with special-needs. The ECDAP functions under the broad principles of UGC- Higher Education for Persons with Special-needs Scheme (UGC-HEPSNS). The ECDAP is a statutory nodal agency with a mandate to work both as representative body and as an administrative unit. The ECDAP is headed by a senior faculty member along with faculty with benchmark disabilities as the Co-coordinator. Members in the ECDAP include teaching faculty, non-teaching employees and student representatives– having disabilities or expertise in disability matters.

Prof. Pammi Pavan Kumar. – Coordinator
Prof. P. S. V. S. Sai Prasad. – Co-coordinator
Dr. Abhijeet Joshi. – Member
Shri. N. Annavaram. – Member
Shri. K. V .R. Prasad, Section Officer. – Member
Chief Medical Officer, Univ. Health Centre. – Member
Dr. B. Hymavathi, Pschological Counseller. – Member
Mr. O. Maneesh Kumar Reddy (Ph.D. Pol. Sci.) – Student Representative
Ms. Ch. Shirisha (M.A., Tel.) – Student Representative
Ms. B. Gnana Sruthi (IMTech.,-CSE) – Student Representative
Ms. Sanchana Udayakumar (M.A., Sociology) – Student Representative
Joint Registrar, Reservation & Coordination Cell. – Convenor

Email: ecdap@uohyd.ac.in

Phone: +91-40-2313 3310

Support Services

The University of Hyderabad is complying with and following the instructions contained in the UGC Accessibility Guidelines and Standards for Higher Education Institutions and Universities–2022. The Advisory Committee for Differently Abled Persons (ACDAP), headed by the Vice-Chancellor is the apex body on matters of disability at the University of Hyderabad. In addition, the university has established the Empowered Committee for Differently Abled Persons (ECDAP) in the year 2008 to deal with the special needs of students and staff members with the disabilities on a day-to-day basis.

The University of Hyderabad (UoH) has been in the forefront in the implementation of relevant provisions of the RPwD Act-2016. The University follows FIVE percent reservation in favour of candidates with benchmark disabilities in admissions for various academic programmes and FOUR percent reservation in favour of persons with benchmark disabilities in direct recruitment in both teaching and non-teaching positions. The university is having a Liaison Officer to deal with the matters of PwBD recruitment in the campus.

Support Services include

Caretaker Services

The University of Hyderabad offers caretaker services for differently abled students in both North and South campuses. There are dedicated staff members (men & women) for the purpose. The mess in-charges ensure that differently abled students are attended on a priority basis while serving the food in the dining halls.

On-campus Accommodation

All the selected students for admission will be given on-campus accommodation.

Funding and Fee Support

All the admitted students are eligible to receive the University fellowship. In addition, students with disabilities receive various scholarships and fellowships from state/central funded sources, NGOs and other organizations. The University of Hyderabad provides a special fund to conduct sensitization/orientation sessions, workshops and various programmes exclusively for the students with disabilities.

Reading Units and Computer Laboratories

There are separate reading units and computer laboratories for students with visual disabilities. The resource centres are established in both North and South campuses. The centres are equipped with Desktops(15+15) installed with screen reading software, OCR readers, and scanning software. These centres are equipped with Braille printers, flatbed scanners and table-top scanners.

Assistive Devices and Appliances

Laptops equipped with assistive learning software are available with the resource centres. The laptops are procured in partnership with the state governments and non-governmental organisations. Pocket Readers will be issued to newly admitted students dependent on audio recorded material. White canes will be issued to newly admitted visually impaired students based on individual requests and need assessment.

Motorised Vehicle Services

The University provides motorised vehicles to students with locomotor disabilities based on the need and eligibility. Electric three wheeler scooters and wheelchairs issued on a returnable basis to all students with eighty percent or more locomotor disability. The university offers free bus service within the campus and bus drivers and staff members are instructed from time-to-time to pay special attention to differently abled commuters.

Elevators, Ramps and Wheelchairs

Under the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan (Accessible India Campaign) steps have been taken to make the whole campus accessible and barrier free. With an expenditure of around ₹ 5.5 crore, the University installed elevators in all administrative and academic blocks of the University. Constructed pathways to reach these elevators, and made renovations to a few old structures, wherever required. The accessible washrooms and ramps are being made available in student hostels, auditoriums and academic buildings. All academic blocks, administrative buildings, lecture hall complexes and guesthouses have been equipped with wheelchairs.

Special Allowances

There is a provision for Reader Allowance for students with visual disabilities for the purposes of employing scribes for writing the examinations. In addition, the university provides Scribe allowance, Stationary charges, Special scholarships in partnership with several NGOs, and state and central schemes for Persons with Disabilities.

Reasonable Accommodations during the Examinations

The provision of 20minutes compensatory time per each hour of the exam, as laid down by the government of India, is strictly implemented during both the regular examinations and entrance tests conducted by the university. Scribes are allocated to needy students as per the Scribe Guidelines notified by the Government of India from time-to-time. Question papers are provided in accessible formats.

Workshops/Training Sessions

The University also took students with disabilities to various workshops on accessibility conducted by various government and non-governmental organizations as part of The Accessible India Campaign. Besides fulfilling the procedural requirements as provided in RPwD Act 2016, the University of Hyderabad takes an active interest for the inclusion of PWBD students in the campus life at par with others. The University offers a short duration computer training course for students with visual disabilities during every academic year.

Sensitisation/Employment Orientation Sessions

Recognising the social responsibility, the university invited major corporate leaders located in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, once in November 2023 and the other time in February 2024, and conducted sensitisation sessions with them, on the employment potential of qualified people with disabilities. The February event was conducted in collaboration with Help the Blind Foundation (HTBF) — a non-governmental organisation working for students with visual disabilities studying in higher education institutions in the country. Human Resource (HR) professionals representing major HR forms and other corporate organisations actively participated in the proceedings and went back with the commitment to open up more employment opportunities for qualified visually impaired youth.

Accessibility Visits

As a special measure, the University of Hyderabad conducts outstation trips for differently abled students and facilitates their participation in regular site-seeing of prominent parks, tourist places and accessible events. To ensure that our PWBD students have enough exposure and awareness about the environment around them, we take them to prominent tourist places in and beyond Hyderabad, conduct periodic workshops on campus and facilitate their participation in important events happening in other institutions located in Hyderabad.

Collaborations

The University collaborated with Bookshare India, Sugamya Pustakalaya, Medhani Trust, Enable India, Help the Blind Foundation, Daisy Forum of India, Youth4Jobs, Vision through ears and Samrita Trust and conducts several training programmes, workshops and sensitization sessions.

Placement Initiatives

The University has a vibrant Placement and Guidance Advisory Bureau, which actively facilitates students with disabilities to participate in placement drives. We have active partnership with Youth4Jobs, Enable India, HTBF, WoW-HR etc. organizations.

Sports and Games

The University provides students with disabilities with various sports and games equipment and supports them to participate in state, national and international games and sports events.

ECDAP Docs/Updates

Useful Links

4. National Divyangjan Finance and Development Corporation,
Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disability, Govt. of India.
https://www.ndfdc.nic.in/ (opens in a new tab)

15. Various Scholarship Schemes for Differently-abled Students
https://blindwelfaresociety.in/ (opens in a new tab) (NGO)

Contact Us

Prof. Pammi Pavan Kumar

Coordinator,

Prof. P. S. V. S. Sai Prasad,

Co-coordinator,

Empowered Committee for Differently Abled Persons (ECDAP),

University of Hyderabad.

Email: ecdap@uohyd.ac.in

Phone: +91-40-2313 3310.