One Man's Annoying / Aggravating / Interesting Access Picture of the Week

A friend emailed this picture to me. It's a screenshot of a TV on a campus of some sort. Across the top it says "Disability Awareness Month." So far so good. But the next line says, "Spot faculty, staff or student in wheelchair and snap a picture with cell phone." Um, ok. Then the last part says, "Drop by Disability Resource Office with picture for chance in drawing for a gift certificate." Say what now?

So when you put it all together what it looks like they're suggesting is "take a picture of someone with a disability, maybe win a prize." Wow. I'd like to argue that this a classic example of good intentions gone sorely wrong, but these intentions just look bad. Period. I have no idea what was going through the mind of the person that thought this idea up because it's about as far from "disability awareness" as you can get. In fact, it's quite offensive.

Incidentally, this this whole thing also reminds me of that "Saved By the Bell" episode where Zach Morris singles out the girl in the wheelchair at the school dance as "the only person here who needs to use a wheelchair." Just a bad deal all around.