Further, most people will have some sort of temporary or permanent disability at some point in their life. People break their legs, get older and become deaf, or blind, etc.

Interacting with people with disabilities gives us an opportunity to think about how we can make society a little better not just for them, but for ourselves in the case that we become sick, or injured, or just live to be elderly enough that parts of our bodies have fulfilled their expected useful life and stop working.

When I go to a store, I'm not doing it out of charity for the employees. I'm doing it because I want to buy something, in the most efficient and/or pleasant way possible.

I'd much rather fund social programs which just outright support people with disabilities (and I'd like such programs to be more robust and empathetic than they are today). Frankly, if you're not going to be able to do your job well in the first place, this works out better for everyone.

How about ugly people? Certainly they don’t like to be limited in their opportunities to attract attractive people. Should the government pass laws to compensate them for this shortcoming? I stutter. Most of you people made fun of me or made me feel inadequate. The government didn’t do anything for me. Should some law be passed to compensate me for years of humiliation. How about women discarding me as a potential mate? Should I start a “Stutters Lives Matters” movement? What other human shortcomings that nature bestows upon us would you like the government to fix?

I agree. My reasons are more selfish and basic:

Any of us could be disabled or our person may be a target for discrimination or worse.

Could be me.

And I make sure while it is not me I can increase the net happiness in the world.

Also seems like a great way to demo speech to text use by the customer

I stop shopping in places where the customer service is slow. Such is life.

That's what self-service stands are for. Let the little old ladies argue about coupons all day long, I can get in and out with my few items quicker.

> Then work with a different employee.

But isn't this exactly the customer behavior Richard Dahan was complaining about?

It won't take 2 more minutes to chat via text.

The self-service lanes at many grocery stores have lines even when human cashiers are available. People don't want others handling their groceries, because even fully able employees do a very poor job on average. Online shopping has exploded for similar reasons - convenience and choice for the customer trumps social good.

> If you were that important, you'd be driving an ambulance.

I'm stealing that line... thanks for the chuckle and snort on a Saturday morning.