Resource persons
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Nay Lin Soe, Co-Founder and Counselor of MILI is a person with
physical disability and wheelchair user. He also serves as advocate for
disability rights and has experience working with disability movement for
15 years. He was the recipient of the 2016 Charles T. Manatt Democracy
Award, awarded by the International Foundation for Democratic Systems.
He is the joint-secretary of the Disability Advisory Committee charged
with drafting national disability law. He has done and delivered numerous
disability inclusion trainings for UN agencies, international NGOs, local
NGOs, government ministries, media organizations and DPOs in
Myanmar.
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Rohan Samarajiva is the founding Chair of LIRNEasia, an ICT policy
and regulation think tank active across emerging Asia and the Pacific. He
was CEO from 2004 to 2012. His most recent co-authored book (2013) is
entitled “Information Lives of the Poor,” and was published in English,
French, Spanish and Burmese. Samarajiva was Team Leader at the Sri
Lanka Ministry for Economic Reform, Science and Technology (2002-04)
responsible for infrastructure reforms, including participation in the
design of the USD 83 million e Sri Lanka Initiative. He was Director
General of Telecommunications in Sri Lanka (1998-99), a founder
director of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (2003-05), Honorary Professor at
the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka (2003-04), Visiting Professor of
Economics of Infrastructures at the Delft University of Technology in the
Netherlands (2000-03) and Associate Professor of Communication and
Public Policy at the Ohio State University in the US (1987-2000).
Samarajiva was Policy Advisor to the Ministry of Post and Telecom in
Bangladesh (2006-09).
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Nirmita Narasimhan is a Senior Fellow and Policy Director at G3ict
working in the areas of policy research and advocacy related to IP reform
and technology access for persons with disabilities. She is involved in
drafting the Indian National Policy for Electronic Accessibility and also
works closely with different departments of the Government of India to
bring accessibility into their policies and programmes. She has authored
several reports on accessibility, which are being used by policymakers
worldwide. She has also presented papers on ICT and Accessibility at
international fora like the IGF. She has also participated in the World
Blind Union Treaty negotiations at WIPO. Nirmita has won several awards
for her work, one of which was the National Award for Empowerment of
Persons with Disabilities, which she received from the President of India
in December 2010. Her educational background includes degrees in Law,
German and Music. She has prepared research reports in the capacity of
ITU accessibility expert, on making mobile phones and services accessible
for persons with disabilities in Nepal and Afghanistan. These reports
study the existing legal and policy framework for e- accessibility in these
countries and makes specific policy recommendations for these.