Category: Let's talk
Some of this could be part of the topic on feminism: Some but not all.
I think we need a better definition of equality as it pertains to people / target groups. Is it not the case, that far too often, by equality people mean 'special exception?'
Here's a couple instances from my own life:
When I was 18, my first year in college, I got pulled aside by one of my professors who thanked me for 'just being another student' in his class. I was inwardly impatient to get a move on, thinking this was another one of those annoying rituals we blind people put up with the way horses tolerate flies.
However he went on to explain: Apparently a student the year before had enrolled in the class, told the professor he was blind, wanted to be equal / like everyone else ... we've heard the drill. However, he went on to make a lot of demands I can't remember now, and was ultimately cut short by what seemed to me a reasonable question: "Do you want to be like everyone else, or somebody special?"
A few years ago, when I was a blind vendor, two women approached me as store manager to complain about how I didn't have enough veggie options, I wasn't mindful of vegetarians.
When they left, as I was ruminating on this thinking what I was going to do, another guy came up and told me he'd been overhearing their conversation. He then told me he is a vegan. I started to apologize for the lack of options, say I would be looking into it, but I was cut short when he told me he'd been eating at my store for months. I was a bit incredulous, especially in light of the previous women who had complained, and when I said I didn't know how he could, his response was, "That's because you're not a vegan."
He went on to explain that he as a vegan, knew what to look for and what he could get.
So here it is: Is it really equality a group wants, when it demands that things get modified just for them? And what does it do to other members of that very same group, once the backlash kicks in?
Is it real equality when a religious group wants to be offended at a particular public display, or wants to modify core curricula in schools to match what feels good for them?
Is it real equality in the workplace when a woman can sue the company for harrassment because of what a couple men (or even another woman!) may be joking about without knowing she could overhear or would be offended?
Is it equality when even the smoking area has a sign admonishing smokers of any sort be they cigarettes, cigars, pipes or whatever, that they are to be mindful of nonsmokers?
Is it real equality when a group is offended at another's winter holidays? Pray tell, what part of a creche is actually barring access to another group?
To me it seems every single minority now, and that includes those classed as 'majority', lives off of its minority status / its ability to demand, like a yard full of school kids competing to shout the loudest or kick and scream the hardest.
Personally I think it shows great weakness for someone to demand these sorts of things. To me, being equal means I am equal to the task at hand. My request being that a perceived inequity, be it blindness or anything else not related to skills / aptitude not be a factor. That doesn't mean I expect everything to change because of me, and when what we call an accessibility issue does arise, I generally do what I can first to accomodate myself.
Robozork, I completely agree with you. Often times, minorities get the benefit of the doubt, and end up with a lot more privileges, wiggle room, and options than those they would like to be equal to. It's one thing to fight for your rights, but to abuse them is a crime. Really, minorities are not concerned about equality on its own, but they are very concerned about themselves, and some how being equal means getting ahead and maybe crushing the other group/s in the progress. It perplexes me.
Like they say, choose your battles wisely. If there's a right that you are not getting with no possible way around it, then by all means, fight for it, but why sue the people who told the joke when you can just move away from those people and avoid them, if it offends you. Why complain about the person smoking in the parking lot when you can just find somewhere else to have your little chat, or whatever the case may be. If a lawsute is always your response to something you don't like, then you really need to learn some problem solving skills.
agree with post 2. some people have the rights but simply abusing their rights that they have.
i come across someone few years ago, in his late teens or early 20s, who wanting to get in to university and study music. for him, music is his world, is what he wanting to live and breave. however, he was the very extreme where, he wanting every single thing from the university to transcribe it in to braille for him. he don't know a single thing about computer and refuse to learn. cause, in his view, he has the right of using braille, therefore, everyone else must allow him to practice his right regardless. some of you might thing nothing wrong wit it, but, as others might known, part of the university study nowadays, in the 21st century, is depend on the computer side of thing, from corse delivery, to the lectures-students interaction. the university was so afraid of him, and other blind students that apply to it. they not rejecting him, they are overwelming with his request, and plainly, wasn't capable to deliver them in time for him. who's fault is this? of course, some of you can argue that, its discruminating, but i think, is more that, this friend of mine discruminate himself from the technology, and get himself to a situation that is disadvantage to both party.
in my view there's no such thing as equality. we as the so call disadvantage minority group in some way is more advantage than most. take me for example, i got double time for every exam at university. if there's an exam for 3 hours, i got 6 hours for the same paper. using jaws reading the question and typing on the computer might be even faster than someone who where glasses, or have short sighted, needing to read it slow, or, even, to someone who is slow in their writing. in this case, who's the not fair one, me or the rest of the students?
yes, we are equal in the sense that we have the rights to freedom, rights to vote, rights to eat clean stuff, drinking clean water and stuff, but yet, there're people in the third world that don't have the level of equality like we have. so, i guess, it is the question of what is the defination of equality, and, are we over practice our advantages that we have compare to those that don't have, and simply call it as equal?