Hello Arti. Hearty congratulations to you on your success. Wish you many more such successes.
Prof. Mittal. -----Original Message----- From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in [mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of Aarthi Burthony Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 4:30 PM To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Subject: [AI] Aarthi From Mauritius. Dear Accessindians, I hope that everyone of you is just fine. I am Aarthi from Mauritius and I am sharing my experience which carries a good news for the Mauritian blind community with you all. In Mauritius it is the Public Service Commission {commonly known as the PSC} which recruits for the Government. I had applied at the PSC for the post of Assistant Secretary for the Prime Minister's Office on 5th April 2011. On the PSC application form it is not asked if applicant is disabled or not. Thus, one cannot reveal one's disability. As a blind person I filled in the PSC application form. On the PSC application form it has been mentioned that the selected elgible candidates would be called upon for a written examination. On 4 July 2011 I received a written correspondance from the PSC informing me that I have been selected for the written examination which is to take place on 15 July 2011. The next day, 5 July I phoned at the PSC for inquiring about what to do now that I have been selected for the written examination and that the PSC do not know of my disability as the PSC application form does not allow our disability to be officialy revealed. The lady who answered my phone call told me that I should have annexed on the application form that I am blind. I retorted to her that having in mind to follow the ordinary procedure I did not annex any unasked matter as otherwise my application form would have been disregarded. She finally asked me to address a letter to the Secretary of the PSC to inform him of the present subject matter. I wrote a letter the same day to the Secretary of the PSC. I faxed a copy of this letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Security. In my letter to the Secretary of the PSC I had inquired about if any blind candidate had ever taken part in the written examination of the PSC. The Ministry of Social Security has been dealing with the PSC on this matter. On Monday 11 July the Head of the Disability Unit, a Disability Officer and myself had had a meeting at the PSC. At the end of the meeting it has been agreed upon that I would have access to my written examination in accessible format as a blind candidate. I had taken part in this written examination of the PSC on 16 July with my lap top with the use of the Jaws. I had had 1 hour extra time. I had been allowed to use my talking calculator. My question paper had been placed on a pen drive and the Jaws read it to me. I opened a word document and wrote in the answers to all the questions. I answered to all the questions. I managed to finish just in time. I am the first blind person having had sat for a written examination of the PSC. the day following my examination on 17 July the Minister of Social Security has anounced on the readio news headline that from now on the PSC must ammend its procedures so as to allow blind persons to take part in these examination for blind persons to be employed by the Government. The PSC and the Disability of the Ministry of Social Security do not have any Jaws software. Fortunately I have my Jaws 11.0 that the Service Civil International {SCI} gave me on my lap top. I had had IT courses from the National Computer Board and I know how to type rapidly as a blind person. It is the first time that I had had a written examination on computer with Jaws. In the past for secondary and tertiary studies I had had recourse to the Braille system for all written examinations. I was having my questions in Braille and I was answering in Braille. But the PSC do not have any Braille literate examinator and this mode of Braille system is not suitable. The medium of reader and writer is not convenient also when the question paper carries comprehension more than 500 words. This is why I opted for the use of computer. So now, this is done: blind persons who are computer literate with the Jaws may have full access to the written examination of the PSC. After the corrections of the answer sheets, there will be a selection of the candidates who will be called upon for oral interviews and after these interviews the right person will be awarded the post. If I receive some news I will definitely let you know I thereby seize this occasion to thank Harish Kotian for his advices and support while I was dealing with the authorities to have access to my written examination in the best conditions Aarthi.. . 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