[rehab] Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: a Shining Example of the Value of Diversity in Employment

[Dick Davis]

Sure.
Dick

-----Original Message-----
From: rehab [mailto:rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of adrijana
prokopenko via rehab
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2017 12:32 PM
To: Rehabilitation Counselor Mailing List
Cc: adrijana prokopenko
Subject: Re: [rehab] Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: a Shining Example of
the Value of Diversity in Employment

Can we share this?

On 12/20/17, Dick Davis via rehab <rehab at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Dear List Members and Friends,
>
> This is an expanded version of something I posted on Facebook.  One of
> our list members urged me to post it.  Have a great holiday season.
>
> Dick Davis, Chairperson
>
> NFB Employment Committee
>
>
>
> *Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: a Shining Example of the Value of
> Diversity in Employment*
>
> *By Dick Davis, Chairperson*
>
> *National Federation of the Blind Employment Committee*
>
>
>
> *From the author: Over the holidays, as I was reading the Little
> Golden Book “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to my grandson Lucas, it
> struck me that I could use Rudolph’s story  in my talks because it has
> everything to do with discrimination and the value of diversity in
> employment.  So here it is, slightly rewritten to serve that purpose.
> *
>
>
>
> Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was a differently-abled individual who
> faced discrimination and social ostracism because of his red nose.  As
> we all know, deer  have beautiful shiny black noses.  Rudolph’s was
> shiny too, but it was red - so red that it actually glowed!  While
> this characteristic might have been regarded as beautiful in some
> societies, it was a visible, ugly deformity in reindeer society.
> Because of it, Rudolph was mocked, humiliated, and disqualified from
> participating in reindeer games.
>
>
>
> To make things worse, Rudolph fell prey to this discrimination,
> internalized it, and took responsibility for his misfortune instead of
> realizing it was a problem of the larger society.  Since he was
> isolated at the North Pole Manufacturing Zone, there  was no
> organization of disabled reindeer to explain this to him.  So when
> Santa sought applications from reindeer to pull his sleigh, Rudolph
> hid himself out of shame until all the candidates for the job had been
> selected.
>
>
>
> On Christmas Eve, a sudden fog, no doubt caused by global warming,
> arose, impeding the progress of Santa and his team.  But when Rudolph
> came out of hiding, Santa immediately realized the practical value of
> his “disability”, and hired him as lead worker for the sleigh team.
> The other reindeer, realizing that they had foolishly overlooked an
> individual with the exact skill set to enable them to achieve their
> mission, welcomed him to the team.
>
>
>
> Were it not for Rudolph, the team would have failed to achieve their
> all-important Christmas objective, resulting in global disappointment
> to all the good little girls and boys.  But because of Santa’s wisdom
> in understanding that difference could be an asset rather than a
> limitation, they succeeded.  And they memorialized this organizational
> achievement by creating a song which continues to be sung by children
> today.
> _______________________________________________
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> rehab:
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> %40gmail.com
>

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