A small price to pay for being civilised.

 I have been watching the Liberal Parties Conference. The speakers were addressing the needs of people with disability. I was reminded as I watched how valuable the input of people are who see the issues of disability as an opportunity to educate us and improve the lot of the disabled and not solely an issue for the people who are disabled. 

Watching and listening to these able bodied Liberals one is reminded how different we all are and how our own narrow world lacks understanding.I have myself thought, over the years that we seemed to, go on and on, about the subject. We were encouraged to believe that, with "money and the will", we could eradicated the obstacles to the disabled to move around and offered equality with the rest of society.
I held an instinctive belief that to be dis-"abled" meant they weren't fully "able",  they were not the same, and couldn't attain the ideal of "equality".

I remember being amazed at the regulations that required new buildings, of two stories and above, to have a lift facility so that any disabled person would not be prejudiced from applying for a job with any company in that building. Multiple floor buildings already have lifts, ground floor buildings were not a problem so the issue was, medium sized  buildings where, in the past it had been presumed a flight of stairs was

satisfactory. 

It must be remembered that the installation of a lift is expensive,perhaps the most expensive part of the building and to demand that all buildings in future must have one was, in my view a bridge too far. My own opinion was that there would always be things and places where the disabled could not find access and therefore should accept this limitation as a fact of life.

Listening to the people on the Liberal Democrat platform, who make it their business to push out the boundaries on our moribund attitudes. I knew that I would still "question" the basic premise.

Of course one only has to remember the magnificent achievements at the Para Olympic Games, the absolute astonishment at how fast, how high, how resolute they all are.
They certainly put my meagre achievements to shame.

Disability compensation, welfare compensation, sickness benefit are all the result of our concern to assist the less well off, the disadvantaged. Of course this has led to an inability to see the wood for the trees. and we have spawned a compensation industry which creams off 10% of our GDP !

 Perhaps this is a small price to pay for being civilised ?