"I feel infrastructure-wise, we are a disaster for the visually-impaired people or differently-able people. We are not prepared, so I think we must move towards a direction where we make things easier for them. We don't have infrastructure for regular people (laughs), so we are very far away from it. This is not my way of criticising the government but I think we must move in a certain direction and I hope at least in our lifetime, we will get to see a differently-able person feeling comfortable in a public space," said John, while launching Braille Edition of Karma Sutra Cracking the Karmic Code by Hingori.
Should India draw inspiration from Western countries when it comes to providing facilities to differently able people? "In many European countries and in the United States, they are very inclusive of not just differently-abled people but even animals. It is only in this country where people don't care about them. We pelt stones at animals. I don't understand the mindset. I feel we need to be more kind. We are a beautiful country and we have a beautiful way of life. We are a democracy and we just need to be more kind and concerned to humans and animals alike, which we are not," he said.
Talking about the event, John said: "I feel we can't understand their (blind people) situation and problem but it is really important to support them. I am a very small part of it but the media's support is a big thing because you are very active in print, twitter and on television so, I would like to thank media for supporting this cause."
"I have been working with National Association for the Blind for more than six years. My mother and father are working with them for more than 10 years. I think one must not support a social cause just for a film promotion and you have to be consistently associated with that cause. I am associated with many social causes. You will not see me at parties and film functions but I feel it is necessary to come to events like these, not to create an impression but to share a piece of mind."
On work front, John Abraham will next be seen in Sanjay Gupta's "Mumbai Saga", Lakshya Raj Anand's "Attack", and Milap Zaveri's "Satyameva Jayate 2'".
( With inputs from IANS )