A few weeks ago my wife and I were out shopping for a new battery for my cell phone. Becky invited me to consider the possibility of buying a new phone. “It’s time to update,” she said. As we began our search for a new phone, it became apparent that this task was going to be more difficult than we had planned. Every phone we looked at had numbers that were not distinct enough for me to touch/feel or had a digital readout which is of no help to me. We went from store to store and suddenly I realized that I was being paid a visit by an old acquaintance – anger.
I was angry because something that I wanted to purchase seemed to be readily available only to those who are “photo dependant” or as we used to say in my blind school days “sighted dudes.” Well the sighted dudes prevail again leaving the blind folks out. This was an interesting notice. Why was I so upset? In one store I started to get animated with the sales person about accessibility. Becky had to nudge me because this individual was not the right person to go off on.
What I do know is that anger surfaces when you don’t have control over your situation or when others have more options than you do in life. It was a great wake up call to remember that there are still injustices in the world. People either intentionally or unintentionally don’t think about how their actions may impact a group who might be entirely off their screen. As Becky and I debriefed the situation later we both began to realize that not only do the tiny phones with tiny numbers and touch screens leave blind folks out of the mix, senior citizens and people with arthritis and diabetes are also affected.
The good part of this experience is that it helps me remember to never lose touch with where you come from. I think all too often managers lose touch with their employees; government workers clearly lose touch with the real people. You become both insulated and isolated from the needs of other people. This cell phone experience is a reminder to me to work hard to stay in touch with the broader good for all people.
In the sophisticated language of diversity practitioners, we might refer to this experience as an example of a “micro inequity” – that experience where people in dominance have more options than do individuals who represent particular groups. We will write more about this concept in a future issue. The impact on me individually is that in the past I used to feel less than because of my disability. I no longer feel that way about myself. I now know I have value, something to contribute, and that in a small way is perhaps why my anger surfaced. I know what I know and I know what I don’t know.
I pledge from this day forward to continue to stay the course as a difference maker and invite all of you to do likewise.
Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.
He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com
