Woman without hands asked for fingerprints
Victoria Modise, of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa, lost her ID and was told she had to get fingerprinted to get a new one. The problem is that Modise has no arms. Apparently the SA Human Rights Commission is "deeply concerned" about the incident. From The Herald Online:
(Spokesman Vincent) Moaga said the commission was deeply concerned by this incident...Link (via Fortean Times!)
“Home Affairs should look at international practices and see what system can be put in place to assist people with disabilities to get their IDs.”
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There are toe/foot prints, of course. Don't babies get those taken anymore? I did when I was born, but then I was a military kid. Maybe we were treated differently than civi-babes.
Sounds like she really needs somebody to give her a hand with this.
(yes, obvious and stupid, but I couldn't resist)
Instead of being "deeply concerned", couldn't it just be that somebody made a bone-headed move, correct it and move on.
Why does everything have to be a full-blown crisis?
“Home Affairs should look at international practices and see what system can be put in place to assist people with disabilities to get their IDs.”
Does this happen a lot? Are there so many people with no hands that you need to have a policy manual on it. Common sense. Everybody should just have ask 2 other people before making a decision on something like this. No three people would have said that a person with no hands had to get fingerprinted.
i once felt bad because i had no fingerprints, until i met a man with no fingers. no wait, i removed my fingerprints on purpose, i have no remorse, never-mind.
What ever happened to common sense? I mean, I know it's not that "common" to run into something like this, but c'mon...
There is SOOOO much wrong in this world, and this just adds to it. Did they thinking she was faking not having arms?
I think they need to start a common sense class at some high school...call it...continuing education (since obviously it's needed...).
I've really wanted to introduce this to Toronto. A lot of people here need non-nefarious re-education.
I wouldn't be surprised if some bureau-rat looked at her blankly and said, "ma'am, I'm sorry if you can't provide us with a fingerprint then I can't give you an ID. I understand you have no arms, but I don't make the rules. Don't take an attitude with me!"
My grandfather once had an application for a disability parking permit rejected because a) they couldn't read the doctor's handwriting and b)they didn't accept the extension sticker on the back of the two-sided driver's license issued by Florida..."date of expiration must be on front of license". They don't make the rules, they just know that it's easier to follow them than to think.
Though in this case, the concern seems to be that in post-apartheid SA, really obvious points of discrimination still remain.
@3 "Instead of being "deeply concerned", couldn't it just be that somebody made a bone-headed move, correct it and move on."
Someone in the government machine is so incredibly thick that they want the fingerprints of a woman with no hands, and didn't have the brains to escalate it to someone with the power to override the requirement.
That's deeply worrying, because if they're so thick they can't figure out that THIS is an exceptional situation, they're probably not catching a lot of less obvious stuff.
"Does this happen a lot? Are there so many people with no hands that you need to have a policy manual on it."
Yep. Especially in South Africa, compared to America, but even in the "Developed world" there are still a LOT of adults with thalidomide-inflicted birth defects, not to mention the usual run of occasional genetic defect or accidental dismemberment.
This kind of thick reasoning leads to cities installing curbs with no access ramps, because "There can't be THAT many people in wheelchairs" or companies completely forgetting that blind customers can't read normal bills.
What scares me is that this makes a good case for those pushing for DNA databases - I mean, one can lose fingers, have feet amputated, even have his eyes gouged or needing major facial reconstruction, yet DNA is stable...
Well, not that the same people that push it care about public excuses. They just make the things behind the curtains, and they aren't being that subtle anymore...
If DNA tracking becomes widely used, the Russian Mafia will find a way to alter DNA. They're always ahead of the government.
@ #7 Someone in the government machine is so incredibly thick that they want the fingerprints of a woman with no hands,
So you think that the woman was standing at the counter and the clerk said: "We need to get your fingerprints", the woman responded by holding up her stumps and the clerk THEN said: "I'll take that as a no.".??
and didn't have the brains to escalate it to someone with the power to override the requirement.
Which was exactly my point, if you continue to read on.
perhaps that 'department of home affairs' should keep powdered pig bladder in stock at all times, so as to avoid such embarrassments?
What about a butt-print? It worked on Harvey Birdman.
Always ready to be the apologist for empire huh Moon?
Tool.
To require citizens to give the government their fingerprints for
ordinary life activities is unjust even for people that do have
fingers. National ID cards give the government too much power and
should be abolished.
From Born in Tibet by Chögyam Trungpa, foreword by Marco Pallis:
It is not only such obvious means of intimidation as machine guns and
concentration camps that count; such a petty product of the printing
press as an identity card, by making it easy for the authorities to
keep constant watch on everybody's movements, represents in the long
run a more effective curb on liberty. In Tibet, for instance, the
introduction of such a system by the Chinese Communists, following the
abortive rising of 1959, and its application to food rationing has been
one of the principal means of keeping the whole population in
subjection and compelling them to do the work decreed by their foreign
overlords.