MARK TWAIN, ON BEING REFERRED TO LATE IN HIS CAREER, as "An American," took umbrage to the appellation and issued a correction: "I am The American." Twain's current incarnation James Lileks reminds us of how "disability" changes over time:
Then we went to Target to get the chairs for the gazebo. I paged a Sales Associate, or whatever they're called, and up wheeled Dale. He's there every time I visit the store. I don't know what his disability is. He's the go-to guy at Target. Minor speech impairment; some muscular inabilities. But he has a walkie-talkie and a datapad tied into the Target mainframe and a gun that reads SKUs with a laser, so he can tell you whether the item's in stock, order it up, and send a team of guys to drag it to your car. All with his one good hand. We are the Borg. Or will be, eventually; I can imagine a device that would fit on his head and let him do all these things with brainwaves and blinking. Thirty years ago he would have been in a Home making wallets, wheeled out into the sun once a day, kept from sight. Now he rules this store.Posted by Vanderleun at March 25, 2005 09:32 PM | TrackBack
Ever read 'Sam I Am'? He used to hang at the
Saturday Mkt in Portland. Maybe even more ...
challenged than Dale. Truly a gloriously happy
and productive guy. He hawked his book one
person at a time until it was picked up. Then
when his ship had come in, he didn't stop. He
took his self on tour to schools to show what
little there was he couldn't do. He was one cool
dude with the right attitude.
And the dude who rang up my books at Borders the other day was either disfigured at birth or scarred by fire, or both, but did his job without attracting a second look from anyone. I wonder how much we can credit Star Trek, Star Wars, etc., for destroying our fear of those who look very different from ourselves.
Posted by: lmg at March 26, 2005 05:00 PMThis is totally besides the point, but when Lileks reminisces, I get more of a Sherwood Anderson vibe than Mark Twain.
Posted by: Mike Beversluis at March 28, 2005 07:41 AMNorman Rockwell, but in words, not pictures. That's what I get when I read him. An America that I'm not sure ever really was, but certainly ought to have been.
Posted by: The Colossus at March 28, 2005 10:11 AMOur local Wal-Mart hires handicapped people. The girl who sits outside the dressing room is in a wheelchair. She has no legs. Many of the people who stock the shelves are not very smart, but if you ask them a question, they stop what they're doing and walk you over to the item you're looking for - even if it's two blocks away. The greeters are all very old, and they all take their job of greeting and handing you a buggie very seriously. Most of the check-out people are hilarious and efficient. The gum-chewing idiots don't last long. I get the willies going into Wal-Mart, but I always come out feeling really happy way deep down inside. I don't think it's Star Wars or anything like that that makes us accept this new attitude. Somewhere along the line it was dictated that businesses would hire the handicapped, and they did. They found out the handicapped often enough work better than anyone else. The customers just accept it. That's all. It's a wonderful thing.
Posted by: Amy at March 28, 2005 01:51 PM