Last week's London Development Agency seminar Open to All aimed to dispel some common myths about customers with disabilities ahead of London staging the Olympics in 2012.
Two amusing, but pertinent, anecdotes from the seminar's speakers exposed the day-to-day preconceptions we all carry around with us.
Chris Holmes, a nine-times gold medal winning Paralympic swimmer and now a lawyer at a City firm, spoke of winning a record breaking sixth gold in the pool at the Barcelona Games in 1992.
Having won a breathless final in the outdoor pool at the games, beating the Spanish favourite in the process much to the horror of the partisan crowd, Holmes, who has been blind since the age of 14, was immediately set upon by an excited British media and interviewed for BBC radio.
Still trying to take in the enormity of his acheivment Holmes was put through live to the broadcaster in the UK while at poolside and asked:
"So Chris, how is it competing in a wheelchair?"
Holmes, who had only moments to think of a reply said: "As I can't see, bloody dangerous!"
The second tale is now part of London concierge folklore.
Ray Jones, brand development director at roombooker Superbreak, began his career as a concierge in the capital.
He related a now famous incident at a luxury hotel in London where a senior concierge was approached by an elderly American guest.
Guest: "Hey, why do your crosswalks beep?"
Concierge: "That sir is so blind people know when to cross."
Guest: "Wow, that's amazing. In America we don't let blind people drive."
Leave a comment
What a user pic? Get a Gravatar!