The Minimum Wage & The Disabled

Phillip Davies MP has suggested that the disabled should be allowed to work for below the minimum wage has provoked a lot of outrage. This was predictable and it was probably unwise of Davies to suggest it.

It does make some sense though. Working for a living is in most cases beneficial to people- and being out of work long term is draining. Simply getting on the bottom rung of the employment ladder is beneficial in itself and has the potential to lead to higher paying work in the future as skills are developed and contacts made.

Once someone is at the peak of their profession even very serious disabilities may not affect their ability to do their job too much- to take an extreme example Frank Williams has been able to run his motor racing team for quarter of a century since suffering paralysis from the neck down. However in most entry level jobs even a modest disability can damage one's productivity be it stacking shelves or admin work- yet it is these positions that are most critical in setting up a working life.

Even most left wing economists accept that the minimum wage increases unemployment. There isn't much doubt that the minimum wage cuts the employment rates of groups who are relatively less skilled- the young (who have a lower minimum wage), ethnic groups with lower educational attainment and the disabled.

Of course the best solution would be no minimum wage but that isn't going to happen any time soon.

We Were All Thinking It.

Disabled people to march in London against cuts to benefits and services

They can't be that disabled then.

National Hookers Service

I don't really object to councils spending money for disabled people to visit prostitutes and lap dancing clubs. No more than I object to spending money on them visiting the theatre or the shops anyway, because the underlying assumption behind the objections to spending the cash this way is that disabled people should have to suppress any politically and socially undesirable urges if they receive any help from the state.

For the genuinely disabled, receiving assistance from the state should not compel them to allow their lives to be micromanaged according to other people's moral injunctions.

In fact in so far as sex is a basic human want perhaps we should nationalise prostitutes and create a National Hookers Service which is free at the point of use for everybody, in the interests of fairness and social justice and all that crap.

People I Have An Irrational Dislike Of- Part 5

This is back to being completely irrational unlike previous entries which many thought were actually quite rational- People who wear "designer glasses".

They just radiate a sense of being slightly too pleased with themselves with their supposedly stylish specs perched on the end of their noses. Anyone who spends that much time picking a pair of specs deserves a slap.

Just Hold The White Stick Outside The Window.

Hooray for Portsmouth City Council for providing suitable braille materials for blind taxi drivers.

Okay I'm guessing they aren't really intending to have blind taxi drivers being guided by dogs in the front seat and it is probably just an automatic braille translation services that they offer for all official forms.

Of course severe visual impairments are practically a requirement in the minicab industry.

Lost & Found.

I lent my hang glider to my old mate Fred the Leper last week and I haven't seen him or it since.

Complainers Find Something New To Complain About.

I don't know why parents are complaining about this CBBC presenter, she seems 'armless enough to me.

I do remember once hearing an outraged woman on Points of View or something similar angrily demanding that the "Why Bird", be banned because she was voiced in a Welsh accent.

Designing Disability.

A deaf couple who wanted to use IVF to ensure that they have a deaf baby are angry that the government is proposing to ban the knowing use of embryos with a genetic defect in IVF treatment. This isn't the first time that a deaf couple have deliberately tried to ensure that their child is also deaf. The reason why it is deaf couples trying to propagate their disability rather than couple's with another disability is because uniquely the deafness creates a linguistic minority and a subculture that goes with it.

The problem is that some deaf advocates take the view that because deafness is a cultural identifier it is therefore not really a disability. This leads to situations such as opposition to treating deaf children with cochlear implants because it shrinks the 'community' or doctors failing to offer easy genetic screening for deafness (ironic considering the first story I linked to) in foetuses because of pressure from deafness advocates.

I would guess that the initial reaction for most people to parents 'designing' their children for deafness is probably that it is abhorrent and close to child abuse, that was certainly my first reaction. Considering the matter in more depth certainly creates more sympathy towards the motivations of the parents but it doesn't change the conclusion. The absence of hearing impairs the quality of life of a child and increases the risks they face ( for example they can't hear fire alarms, oncoming traffic etc) and the benefits to the deaf community don't outweigh them.