Now, as anyone reading this probably know, I’m very much in favour of equal opportunities and for everyone to be participating on a level playing field. If I didn’t believe that, well then I would never have started Accessify, a web site that promotes web accessibility, thus making it possible for people with various disabilities to enjoy web sites just as more able bodied (or minded) people do. So this posting might surprise some people …
I think the company that I work for has a great policy on equal opportunuities, but perhaps it’s a little too encompassing, I’m beginning to think. As I walked in to the building today I spotted that one of the security guards was wheelchair-bound. Well, not a problem, I thought - he’s not the only one on duty, so if he had to confront someone or stop someone gaining access he could probably call for backup. Who better to ask, then, than the next security guard I walked past? That’s to say the the security guard with 75% of the usual arm count (1 complete left arm, right arm stopping just above elbow joint).
As I was walking towards my office, I was mentally constructing a scene wherein someone tried to bust in to the office and managed to evade the wheelchair guy first then escape the clutches (or clutch) of the one-armed security guard. However, none of that would be necessary if this mythical gate-crasher instead chose to come in out-of-hours when the security guards working that shift seem to suffer from narcolepsy - or in other words you’ll find them face down at the desk leaving a trail of dribble.