I’m all for equal opportunities, but…

Thursday, September 7, 2006 0:17 | Filed in Accessibility, Life, Oddities

I came across this article on the Beeb and I couldn’t help but think … no, that’s just not right.

A blind man, who lost his eyes in a bomb blast, has been convicted of dangerous driving after police spotted his car on the wrong side of the road. […he…]is also partially deaf and suffers from leg tremors

Pc Glyn Austin told the court: “I attempted to speak to the driver, who appeared to be fumbling around with the controls. […] At that point the passenger leaned across and stated: ‘He’s blind’”.

PC Edge said: “I asked him if he could see me. He removed the dark-coloured sunglasses he was wearing and I could clearly see he was blind as he had no eyes.”

BBC News

Unfortunately, this sort of story will no doubt be picked up by the anti-disability brigade who will trumpet “there’s certain things disabled people just shouldn’t do.”

And yes, driving for a blind person is one of those things. However, apart from the person mentioned in the story, I don’t think you’re likely to find any blind people, or disability advocacy groups, suggesting that blind people should be allowed to drive. But they should have just the same rights to access a website as anyone else.

Frankly, every section of society has people who do stupid things, disabled or not.

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