Productive in Wheel Chairs

THE EDITOR: Discrimination against the physically challenged in the workplace is nothing new to us. For too many years we have turned a blind eye to this form of injustice. It is only now that human conscience has pricked our senses to put an end to this malpractice. In 1948 I was invited by Friden Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio, manufacturers of the world-famous Friden calculators to visit their organisation. On that occasion I paid a visit to their factory and assembly plants where I saw hundreds of men and women in assembly lines, most of them in wheel-chairs, assembling these calculators. I wondered at that and was told that they were far more disciplined and productive than the able-bodied workers. It then became obvious to me that this was so because these workers met their challenges squarely to prove to the world that they could do as well and even better than their more able-bodied co-workers. Some of our employers who operate assembly plants should take note of this. Friden Corporation did not adopt this policy for humanitarian reasons only. They did so because they knew that they would get the best results out of that. Let us hope that our employers can learn a good lesson here. As our Lord said: “Do unto others as you will have them do unto you.”

ELLIS  MAINGOT
Trincity