Reasons for Action

An anonymous entry on Red Disability's guest book has accused us of being "unreasonable" - something which we take as a compliment, considering that person's narrow minded attitude that the world is inhabited by people who are either disabled or "normal". However, some comments which he made definitely need putting in their place!

Firstly, he assumes that employers will always employ the non-disabled person rather than the disabled person. Although discrimination does exist in unacceptable levels - even one case is unacceptable in our view - it is not universally true. Indeed, a number of employers are now "positive about disabled people". We're not going to talk about "good employers", since the nature of capitalism is for all employers to exploit their workforce, but we must get things in perspective.

Secondly, he makes no effort to explain why some employers discriminate against disabled people. In Red Disability's opinion, the reasons why discrimination occurs are well covered in the "Got A Problem" and roots of disabled oppression web pages.

He claims that "employers have the right to choose who they hire" - an ultra-capitalist viewpoint, that the employers should have all the power over those who they exploit. This was certainly the case in the 19th century (and is still the case in some Third World countries) and it led to a situation where workers suffered terrible wages and conditions, with such delightful practices as child labour being commonplace. Over the years, a mixture of government intervention and workers' fightback - notably through the formation of trade unions - has changed things for the better. We at Red Disability do not want capitalist neo-liberals taking us back to those days!

He then says there is nothing either governments or ordinary people can do about discrimination. To finally eliminate discrimination - whether against disabled, black or gay people - we will ultimately need to smash capitalism and replace it with socialism. However, even while capitalism still exists, a number of reforms can still be achieved.

Governments can:

• Pass laws against discrimination, and force employers to change their recruitment practices. A number of local councils already adopt "blind questioning" techniques which are designed to determine a candidate's suitability for the job, whatever their colour, sex or disability.
• Affirmative action could require companies to employ certain quotas of minority groups. This will hopefully not be needed when prejudice is eliminated, but is necessary to combat under-representation of minority groups, as exists at the moment.
• Nationalise companies which break ethical codes, including discrimination. Without compensation to the shareholders, if need be !

As for ordinary working class people, our powers are as great if not greater:

• Trade union members have power to get their unions to support fair employment practices, and to take industrial action when employees are victimised because of disability etc.
• Boycotts can be called on companies which discriminate unfairly. If people stop buying their products and services, the companies targeted will have their profits reduced - hitting their shareholders in the pocket. They will then be under pressure to change their practices.
• Direct action, such as picketing or occupying the shops or factories of discriminatory companies. This has worked well when disabled people have chained themselves to buses, forcing the bus companies to make their buses more accessible.

Oh well, maybe the phantom guest-book entry writer still thinks we're "dreaming" here at Red Disability. And why not? After all, the black civil rights activist Martin Luther King made a famous speech which began "I have a dream"! Today, over 25 years on, the rights and conditions of black people - especially in southern USA - are far better than they were then. True, racism hasn't been eliminated, but there has been change for the better.

Likewise, the rights of disabled people are slowly improving. Anti-discrimination legislation, while imperfect, has seen cases of discrimination reduced and buildings - including workplaces - adapted to make them more accessible to disabled people. A number of employers are now advertising vacancies with the "positive about disabled people logo", and the emergency services now accept disabled people in clerical and technical positions. In spring 2001, even the British army - a long standing opponent of equal rights - announced that applications from people with certain minor disabilities would now be accepted. Hardly proof that discrimination is such an integral part of human nature that nothing is ever going to change!

Like Martin Luther King, I also have a dream. We must not allow narrow minded gits to turn this dream into a nightmare!

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