Pertinent Perils

Last night’s broadcast of the Grammy Awards were impressive and not just for the musical performances. The show managed to convey a serious message in a memorable way: the need for universal access to all services for people with disabilities. This was demonstrated to great effect when Stevie Wonder concluded a performance with the a capella group Pentatonix before announcing the winner for “Song of the Year”. Wonder opened up the winner card and read with his fingers that the winner was Ed Sheeran for “Thinking Out Loud”. But first he showed the card to the audience and teased them for their inability to read Braille. He concluded with a single sentence about the need to make every service available to disabled persons. Well said. And in an important reminder for all of us that we need to ensure that our businesses are safe and secure for disabled persons, both during normal operations and, more importantly, in the event of a disaster. Disabled people typically suffer worse outcomes from disasters for lack of planning, negligence that is inexcusable.