Jent nominated for a Swiss Award

11 January 2012. Thanks to this nomination, Dr. Nils Jent is in with a chance of becoming the “Swiss Personality of the Year” for 2011 in the Society category. If he wins the televoting next Saturday evening, it would be the first time that someone with a disability has received a Swiss Award.

The Swiss Awards are presented by Swiss Radio and Television (SRF). The television audience will be able to vote for the candidates by telephone during the live programme on Saturday from 8.10 p.m. on SF1.

Willpower and role model

Nils Jent, researcher at the Center for Disability and Integration at the HSG, has been nominated for “his willpower and for being a role model for others who share a similar fate”, it says on the SRF website. Jent has been blind, seriously physically disabled and speech-impaired ever since a motorbike accident in 1980. The 49-year-old struggled back into life step by step, passed his Matura examinations, read business management and obtained a doctorate from the University of St.Gallen.

Film and book published

Today, Jent is a leading expert in diversity management and is conducting research into possibilities for companies to create jobs for people with disabilities. “An incredible feat of willpower, which is moving and shows that the will to achieve the seemingly impossible is stronger than any disability”, writes SRF.

At the2011 Zurich Film Festival,the film "Unter Wasser atmen" about Nils Jent was awarded the Audience Prize. 2011 also saw the publication of the book "Dr. Nils Jent: Ein Leben am Limit".