AN injury as a child, failing sight, teenage years in Dublin in the hope that specialised operations might prevent her going blind, qualifying as an industrial psychologist at Columbia University in New York … Shakila Maharaj has been around several blocks.

She is the winner of international awards for app development, including one from Ireland. People often ask, what is the connection between the many different aspects of her life?

“I know what it’s like to cope with going blind, which is why my career in corporate and consulting led me to becoming a global disability policy strategist,” she explained. “I’ve long worked at devoting time to improving life for other blind people, and that’s what my app does, too.”

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Maharaj designed the prototype and manufactured the first Braille voting template for the IEC used in SA national elections, enabling visually impaired persons to vote independently.

She introduced the Indian SmartCane to SA visually impaired white cane users to enhance safe and independent mobility.

Maharaj founded and chaired the Inclusive Tourism Forum, trained tour operators in accessible tourism, created the first access guide for the city of Durban and served as a board member for the KZN Tourism Authority, the KZN Sharks Board and several corporate and NGO boards.

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Moving on from her corporate career as regional Learning & Performance HOD at Spoornet, in her consultancy Disability Management Services, Maharaj’s disability rights enforcement through her research, strategies and policies developed for corporate and government locally and internationally, has brought her several awards and recognition from the disability, private and public sectors which acknowledge her contribution to business, the arts and society.

She pioneered audio description for 15 years and established AudioDescribe (Pty) Ltd in 2010 and in 2020 the sister company ShazaCin Accessible Media (a first in the country and continent) with the aim to bring young blood and shift audio description into the digital space. Maharaj’s aspiration for blind persons to see the visual world resulted in the creation of the ShazaCin mobile app named “describeAT”, which is available on the Google Playstore.

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She has trained almost 200 disabled and non-disabled persons in audio description, (including in isiZulu) and also conducts the blind verification and quality control on current ShazaCin AD projects.

Maharaj has received the Sabella Award from the Durban International Film Festival for her contribution to inclusion in film. Maharaj is the MD and Business Development Lead at ShazaCin Accessible Media.

The ShazaCin app to date has received awards from SmartXchange, Technology Innovation Agency, Small Enterprise Development Agency, SA Brewery Foundation Social Disability Innovation award, The Irish Tech Challenge SA, Tourism Innovation Programme TGIIP, Durban Tourism, the French AFD Digital Challenge, the Power 24 International Film Festival, the Science Forum 2024, and most recently the highest global recognition as recipient of the American Council of the Blind’s Barry Award International for best international contribution to audio description.

Maharaj will talk about how her life in Ireland affected her and how she boldly took on the tech world at the Irish South African Association on Saturday, June 20 at 10:00 at St Michael’s Church, 6 Durban View Road, Umhlanga Rocks.

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