Kolkata, Jan 12 (PTI) Nobel laureate Jerry White said that there is a need for creating a level-playing field for people with disabilities, particularly in the business space.
Speaking at a session organised by the Merchant Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) here on Wednesday, White, co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 said that he had lost a leg in a landmine when he was in Israel in 1984 while studying Judaism.
White, a Roman Catholic, said “there is a need to change policies and systems to create a level playing field for people with disabilities”.
He also said there is also a need to think about diversity for expansion of the thinking faculty of people.” “I was a student of theology, and studied various religions, including Islam. I wanted to expand my thinking. But the place where I was staying in the US, there was no scope to think of diversity as there were no Hindus, no Jews and no Islam. But there is a need to think of diversity”, he stated.
White said “being a landmine survivor, I had formed the Landmine Survivors Network. I learnt then that landmines killed more people than biological, chemical or nuclear weapons”.
What is also needed is the value-centric leadership that infuses to do the right thing.
“Although I was a vocal critic of the US foreign policy, I was a political appointee during the Obama administration at a senior level. There is need to celebrate inclusiveness in every sphere”, he said.
White also spent his time on nuclear nonproliferation and helped several landmine victims to get jobs.
To a query, White now with the University of Virginia, said “no particular religion spread violence. There are strains in every religion who spread violence. Majority of the people in every religion are peace loving”. PTI dc RG
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.