In the feature film, True Grit, Marshall Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) warns "Lucky" Ned Peffer (Robert Duvall) and three companions of their arrest. Cogburn on horseback faces the four horseman across a clearing. Cogburn tells Peffer that he intends to kill him within seconds or see him hang. Peffer responds, "That's bold talk for a one-eyed fat man." After a flurry of gunfire only Cogburn is alive. The moral? Never underestimate people with disabilities. People with disabilities need jobs, just like everyone else in the working world. They shouldn't be hired for jobs they are not qualified for, but they should be given a chance. Mostly they are just looking for an opportunity to compete. There is a business training video entitled Disabilities in the Workplace: Working Out that helps explain the problem and the solution. "For a person who has a disability, finding and maintaining a job and gaining acceptance at a company can be a difficult process. This program promotes the development of supportive employment within the community by following four very different individuals with disabilities as they meet their respective employment challenges. The program is designed to encourage people with disabilities to persevere in the workplace while helping non-disabled people to better understand the requirements of those who have special needs."
- Ad copy for Disabilities in the Workplace: Working Out It is the employer who must make accommodations for the disabled. That's understandable, but quite often it seems like employers put up mental barriers that keep out the disabled. And that's not fair. Behind every disabled body there is a mind that thinks and reasons. Look at the mind and consider that ability. Can the person do the job? That is the main consideration. Can reasonable accommodations be made so the person will be able to be successful? If so, then hire them. Never put yourself in a position where you disregard someone's ability . . . especially if that person has true grit. |
