Submitted by Don Doman.
In the feature film, True Grit, Marshall Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) warns “Lucky” Ned Peffer (Robert Duvall) and three companions of their arrest. Cogburn on horseback faces the four horseman across a clearing. Cogburn tells Peffer that he intends to kill him within seconds or see him hang. Peffer responds, “That’s bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.” They charge at each other. After a flurry of gunfire only Cogburn is alive. The moral? Never underestimate people with disabilities.
People with disabilities need jobs, just like everyone else in the working world. They shouldn’t be hired for jobs they are not qualified for, but they should be given a chance. They have abilities. Mostly they are just looking for an opportunity to compete.
There was a business training video entitled Disabilities in the Workplace: Working Out that helps explain the problem and the solution.
“For a person who has a disability, finding and maintaining a job and gaining acceptance at a company can be a difficult process. This program promotes the development of supportive employment within the community by following four very different individuals with disabilities as they meet their respective employment challenges. The program is designed to encourage people with disabilities to persevere in the workplace while helping non-disabled people to better understand the requirements of those who have special needs.”
– Ad copy for Disabilities in the Workplace: Working Out
It is the employer who must make accommodations for the disabled. That’s understandable, but quite often it seems like employers put up mental barriers that keep out the disabled. And that’s not fair. Employers and managers, should put themselves in their shoes. Behind every disabled body there is a mind that thinks and reasons. Look at the mind and consider that ability. Can the person do the job? That is the main consideration. Can reasonable accommodations be made so the person will be able to be successful? If so, then hire them.
Never put yourself in a position where you disregard someone’s ability . . . that person might just have true grit.
Jaynie Jones says
Don, you have written a powerful and important admonition here. It reveals not only that you have ‘True Grit’ but that you are a wise and compassionate person. Thank you for being who you are.
Don Doman says
Janie,
Thank you for reading AND writing.
It’s always good to see what people think of my articles. Not everyone agrees with me, but it is nice when someone enjoys an article or two.
Thanks, again for writing and commenting.
Don
Don Mathusz says
There were 2 versions of this movie. The first was considered to be too ‘lose’ and so a second version was produced by changing some senes and actors…
I think you have to be as old as I to have seen both versions.
Don Doman says
Don,
Thank you for reading and for writing.
You are correct. There are two versions of True Grit: the John Wayne version (1969) and the Jeff Bridges version (2010). I love them both and have viewed each numerous times. The acting, the imagery, and the music all favor the 2010 film, but it would probably not have been done without the first one blazing the trail.
Thanks again for reading and commenting.
Don
Don Mathusz says
There were 2 versions of this movie. The first was considered to be too ‘lose’ and so a second version was produced by changing some senes and actors…
Joseph Boyle says
Don,
I love the way you wove an important public message into a highly fascinating article. The idea of using Marshall Rooster Cogburn as your concept lead in was pure genius. GENIUS!
Any thinking employer who gets to read your article should be heard saying, “Yaa, I get it.”
If the result of your article is just one disabled person gets a job, you will be my hero.
Joseph Boyle
Dennis Flannigan says
Eye Aye and I agree.