[thelist] Martin P. Burns - Re: thelist digest, Vol 1 #2160 - 35 msgs

Scott Glasgow paladin at fuse.net
Wed Mar 27 11:50:11 CST 2002


(Sorry, folks. I'm still trying to figure out how to reply to an individual
message from the digest. Hope this is working.)
===========================
>Last time I checked, providing a ramp to your office was your decision
when
>you met with the architect (if you are a non-government funded org).  Yes,
I
>can choose not to provide one, just like people can choose not to use my
>company.

Hey David, take the US-centric blinkers off and join the rest of the world.

Cheers
Martin
===========================
Martin, I don't know what part of the States David is from, but my company
(in the U.S.) added ramps, restroom (loo) grab bars, reserved disabled
parking, and other accessibility requirements, as a result of the Americans
With Disabilities Act, years ago. Private industry (plastics manufacturing,
in this case), not government funded, but nonetheless subject to the AWDA,
just like everyone else in this country who is subject to American
Constitutional, statutory, regulatory, and case law (i.e. pretty much every
damned body who is NOT a governmental body, unfortunately not including, for
example, the Congress of the United States). Please don't think that all
Americans are ignorant of the concepts of (a) their own laws, or (b) the
idea that persons with disabilities [or substitute your favorite
politically-correct descriptor here] deserve a fair shake when it comes to
accessing the Web resources which have become an increasingly important
requirement for simply doing one's job.

A real-world example is appropriate here. Our "receiving clerk/tool crib
guy/etc." is expected to use W. W. Grainger's Web-based supply integration
package to perform his duties. This is not an option. If Grainger does not
make available a tool which he can use in spite of degraded eyesight, what
would become of him? His family? Fortunately, this is not the case, but it
does illustrate the consequence of ignoring the needs of those who, purely
by chance, are less capable in one way or another than we are.

Please don't misunderstand. I am an American--born, bred, and inordinately
proud to be so. But I just don't want it to be assumed that everyone here
wears "US-centric blinkers." OK? (BTW, we call those things "blinders," if
you're talking about those flap dinguses that horses wear to keep them from
looking anywhere but forward ;-).

Cheers,
Scott





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