#InclusionChamps -’Do your part to help overcome barriers’, says Sandeep Ranade, Winner, Universal Design Awards 2020

The NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards for 2020 are out and among the illustrious list of winners this year is Sandeep Ranade. This Pune-based developer has won the award for designing an app that makes Indian classical music accessible to people with vision and hearing impairments.

“I feel deeply honoured and happy to win the award”, said Sandeep Ranade, Pune-based classical musician and developer, and winner, NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award 2020.

Sandeep has won the Universal Design Award in the category that recognises people who work for the cause of accessibility and universal design in areas ranging from built environment, transport infrastructure, mobility & independent living aids, and assistive technology, to name a few.

Sandeep has been recognised for designing NaadSadhana, an app that makes Indian classical music accessible to people with vision and hearing impairments. This is a first of its kind app that enables everyone, disabled and non-disabled, to train themselves in classical music.

First of its kind app

NaadSadhana enables everyone to create and experience music without limits. Through the app I want to create a gurukul for the digital age. Under the traditional gurukul system, students would be with the guru for hours and this meant their notes were corrected consistently. This led to a robust learning system. That system is disappearing quickly. – Sandeep Ranade, Winner, Universal Design Awards 2020

The idea of making it accessible came from visually impaired lawyer Amar Jain, who is also a trained singer and won the NCPEDP Mphasis Javed Abidi Public Policy Award in 2018. “Indian classical music, be it Carnatic or Hindustani, has always been inaccessible to print disabled people”, says Amar. “What makes Naadsadhana so unique and special is that the app uses artificial intelligence to assess how you are singing and plays along. It sounds natural and there is no other app like this”.

Naadsadhana accessible to vision & hearing impaired people

Naadsadhana has been received enthusiastically by people with hearing disabilities too. California-based motivational coach Dr Anu Singh calls it a lifesaver. A trained classical singer. Anu was hitting the wrong note occasionally during performances.

“Other apps just give me a background but Naadsadhana shows me where I am off. So, I don’t have to unlearn everything. This is a critical feature for musicians, many of whom tend to suffer from hearing loss with age”.

Such responses reaffirm Sandeep’s conviction in the need to consistently work towards lifting barriers.

“My message is simply this – do your part, no matter how small you think it is, and help just one person overcome just one barrier, no matter how small. Helping one person may not change the whole world, but it could change the world for one person”.

Also Read about an Inclusion Champ from 2019:

• #InclusionChamps – Prashant Gade wins Universal Design Award 2019 for Inali Arm