September 14, 2014 - 14:24
In this image we can see three people, presumably men, competing in a race. They are all wearing shirts and tie, so they are not professional runners, but office workers. I’m not sure if they are compering for an interview, or a promotion, and I’m not sure if that matters. The point of the metaphor is to dat that the man in the wheelchair cannot jump over the hurdles like his colleagues can. The hurdle represents discrimination. What we don’t see in the picture is what happened before the three men reached the hurdle. First, I think it should be highlighted that the man in the wheelchair was participating in the race in the first place! Because while it is important to removes hurdles and create a level playing field, it is also important that everyone has a chance to compete in the race. Before we can prevent discrimination in interviews, we need to make sure that people who are impaired have the opportunity to get the education that will get them to the interview. Second, we don’t know who was leading the race before they came to the hurdles. The guy in the wheelchair seems stationary. His hands are up in the air in exasperation. Who knows how long he took to do that. They guy on the far right is only now jumping, and the guy on the left is only now reaching the hurdle. For all we know the guy in the wheelchair could have been far ahead of the other two. Which of course is to say that the man in the wheelchair could have been the most qualified, but still cannot complete the race because of an arbitrary hurdle.
