There are many ways you can be relegated to second-class status

WE’RE in the process of introducing a diversity policy in our organisation. The first time the idea was suggested to me, I balked.

My immediate reaction was to wonder why we needed a diversity policy. We’re an open organisation; we don’t, if I may put it this way, tolerate intolerance. Why do we need to bring rules and regulations to bear on a situation that works well already? I was actually thinking about it in a shop the other day, while I waited in a queue. There was a young woman with an intellectual disability at the top of the queue, standing waiting to be served.

The shop assistant simply ignored her. Seemingly unaware that she was even standing there, she offered to help the next person. It wasn’t until he said “this woman is before me” that she paid the slightest attention to the girl at the head of the queue.