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Airport calls for blind people to apply to be air traffic controllers
I'm all for equal opportunities, but St. Mary's Airport (Isle of Scilly) offering a job application form for an air traffic controller in braille is, for lack of a better word, retarded. It's a huge waste of time and money creating forms in braille for jobs the blind just cannot have, and questions the intelligence of those people making the rules and enforcing the "small print" on employment procedures.
According to this article, the airport defended itself by saying that they were "simply abiding by equal opportunity guidelines but the requirements for the job would be 20/20 vision, from this it can be concluded that a person who was blind or partially sighted would not have a chance of obtaining the job."
Errr...so the point of a braille form exactly? To avoid being penalized by the law? In fact, because they offered a "false" opportunity to a blind person who clearly cannot get the job, they should be penalized for being misinforming and misleading, no?
Filed under: Europe, United Kingdom, Airports, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
w67 Jul 14th 2008 11:42AM
I saw that yesterday in my newspaper.
In Europe we have many laws to protect disabled persons or everything that could be a discrimination ... but I do agree with you, it's crazy
luther4000 Aug 31st 2008 12:18PM
Well,
I think that if yo were blind you would like to be able to read as much as possible, even those job aplications that tell you that you are not qulified.
SO I don't think is completely out of place.
bratt Jul 14th 2008 3:42PM
I think that is nuts. They have to be able to see radar to find out where they planes are don't they. If they are blind how are they to see where the planes are and where they should be? I am not in the UK but there is lots of other jobs blind people are able to do. But if the job needs to be able to see. THEY CAN NOT DO THERE JOB CORRECTLY. If one can not do the job they get fired for not doing it right. So why give them hope of a job they can not do correctly?
HShore Jul 14th 2008 7:50PM
Crazy yes, retarded no.
Please don't use words that demean people with special needs.
luther4000 Aug 31st 2008 12:19PM
Crazy is acceptable, but retarded no??
That is retarded
Joe Jul 15th 2008 4:40AM
Sorry I don't see the problem. If they are required by law to supply an application form in braille then let them do it. Application form are application forms you only need to make them once. As for actually getting the job it's a completely different thing.
ATC is highly self-selective, either you can do it or you can't. Should they also stop people over 30 from applying since accuracy, quick thinking, and multitasking also decreases with age.
Tiffany Jul 30th 2008 6:50AM
Being ADA compliant isn't "retarded," Abha. And it's not as if the airport was "call[ing] for blind people to apply to be air traffic controllers" as the title of your article states. They were simply making available the required forms to all people, disabled or otherwise. What's wrong with that? Were it not for these laws, many people who are capable of doing a host of jobs would be excluded for simple lack of access to the hiring materials (i.e. job apps and descriptions). Furthermore, if the position is not detailed in Braille, how do you expect a blind person to discover the job requirements (such as needing 20/20 vision)? Ask someone? And how awkward would that be? Imagine if every time you were interested in a position, you had to phone up the HR department and say, "excuse me; am I qualified for this?" Which idea is more "retarded"? So they spend a few extra cents to ensure the accessibility of the forms, rather than waste countless dollars on legal fees, phone calls, etc. Where's your problem again? Oh, yeh- it's seems "retarded." Uh huh. Please use good business sense and think these things through before you post such a silly blog.
Frank at TravelFans.com Sep 1st 2008 5:31PM
Air traffic control systems are highly automated. ADA requires job adaption for qualified yet disabled employees. Certainly there are positions available that the blind could do. There would be no reason a blind person could not perform radio control operations, or in-transit zone-to-zone radio transfers. And if sight was all that important, why do the air control system sound all kinds of audible alarms when two planes get close or things go bad?
I know plenty of qualified blind people who could be air traffic controllers in some capacity.
Take off your own blinders and give the blind a chance and they will surprise you!
Jeff N Sep 1st 2008 8:26PM
Hey Frank,
I'm a controller at MSP airport in Minnesota. Unless the UK operates on an entirely different controlling model, then blind people are most definitely unqualified for the position. Controllers are tasked for more than just one operation and it would be a terrible waste of money for any facility to position a blind person for one sort of operation as you descibed. Bells and whistles aren't enough. Vision is needed to anticipate corrections needed to avoid conflicts and to comply with the 7110.65.