This whole anti-disability discrimination thing may be getting out of hand

I dislike using the ticket machine at our local tube station, because I practically have to bend over double to read the instructions on the chip-and-pin machine when topping up my Oyster card. This gives me back-ache. I presume it’s set so low to accomoodate kids, because it certainly isn't designed for tall adults. Same with the cash-point machines at my local bank and petrol station, which obviously aren't designed to be used by kids - but aren't designed to be used by POUGs (Persons of Unrestricted Growth) either.

In fact most of the world isn’t designed for someone of my height – somewhere between 6’4” and 6’5” without shoes. Cinema and car seats and hotel beds have all got better in the past 40 years or so as the average height has increased, but airplane, theatre and train seats are all uncomfortable for anyone over 6’2”, and anywhere where the tables and chairs are fixed to the floor are unusable. But do you hear me complain? Well – occasionally.

But then I remind myself that I am abnormally tall, even by Northern European standards, and that it would be unreasonable to expect designers working to a budget and catering for a mass market to keep people like me front-of-mind at all times, rather than 5’9” men and 5’5” women (the average heights in the UK, give or take half an inch). Bit tough on me, of course, but I repeat – I AM NOT NORMAL. Similarly, as I’ve pointed out before, it’s annoying that my choice of off-the-peg clothes and footwear is severely restricted compared to, say, a six-footer, and I think clothing stores could do a slightly better job – but it would be ridiculous of me to expect everything to be available in my size.

When I caught an item on the news earlier today about a London-based female dwarf – an actress with an Australian accent - who had brought a disability discrimination case against the Post Office because she couldn’t reach a chip-and-pin machine at one of their branches, I couldn’t help wondering if it was reasonable of her to expect the company to provide facilities in all of its outlets for customers who are several feet shorter than the average adult. Of course, I’m not incapable of sympathising with dwarves or wheelchair-users or the blind or the deaf or the lame: I’m genuinely appalled whenever I read accounts of disabled people being bullied or insulted by members of the public or transport employees or whoever. But if I suffered from any of these disabilities I doubt if I would expect the whole world to be configured in order to allow me to achieve everything I wanted to achieve as easily as the averagely-abled person. That’s simply not feasible.

The Post Office apparently settled the actress’s claim out of court, which presumably means they’ve given her some money. Her windfall will eventually be paid for by everyone else who uses the Post Office in the form of higher prices – or by job cuts or by decreased share dividends. And then we’ll all have to pay for new chip-and-pin machines that can be used by anyone, no matter what their physical status. Would it be unreasonable for people of restricted height to take their disability into account and make other arrangements rather than for the rest of us to pay extra in order to accommodate them?

Or am I being an uncompassionate bastard?

At the risk of upsetting some readers, I can’t resist mentioning a recent news item about a PORG in Hull who, upset at what he considered “dwarf discrimination” (he apparently couldn’t reach some items in the kitchen of his council flat), entered a council building, called employees “useless fuckers”, told an Asian man to “go back to your own country”, then dropped his pants and defecated on the floor in the main reception area (full story here). Dirty little devil!