Ableism is defined as discrimination or social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior.
Pirates taught us that the way to tackle ableism is to not care about other people.
Okay, stop.
We know what you’re thinking. We don’t really mean that. We do, but we don’t.
What are we trying to say? As always, think Pirate. Pirates were a unique bunch of rascals. Always eager to get rich and to have an easy life. Something we can all appreciate.
As we’ve discussed in Pirate Lesson 001, Pirates didn’t care about your life, as long as you could add something to theirs. This is the exact principle we’re talking about today.
With the Paralympics just finished, we’re completely spellbound by what these incredible athletes are able to achieve, and we love the focus on success and achievement rather than the patronisation that came in years prior. Quite rightly, there is no “look at what these people can do, despite x, y, and z.”. It is “WOW! Look how amazing these humans are”. This is the pirate way of thinking.
We’re not saying that every single disabled person should have the Olympic ability of a Paralympic athlete, what we’re saying is that when everyone is given equitable access to the support required to reach their full potential, amazing things can happen.
Have you had an accident at work that wasn’t your fault? You could be entitled to compensation. (Don’t worry, this isn’t one of those annoying adverts on daytime TV.) But when you actually DO have an accident at work (please be careful) compensation can come in handy. Must’ve been some pretty cool, forward-thinking people to come up with that idea….
THAT’S RIGHT! IT WAS PIRATES!
In the ‘respected’ Navy, if you were injured in the line of duty, you were simply let go, and left to find your own way in life, with the majority falling into homelessness and having to beg for money and food.
So, the handy forward-thinking Pirates came up with a system. If you were hurt, maimed, or seriously injured whilst aboard a ship, you were paid off handsomely so that you could retire in peace.
Here’s a breakdown of how much a Pirate was entitled to:
As a result of this system, pirates were able to lure many former Navy Seamen away from the harsh conditions in the Navy into their pirate crews. To limit the number of men who were leaving to become pirates, the Navy were then forced into adopting a similar scheme and thus injury compensation became widespread. Thank you Pirates!
We understand that Pirates did some ‘less-than-stellar-things’ in their time, but we can take inspiration from the way they ran their ships, with little, to no, discrimination in their ranks. And remember, this wasn’t because pirates were big on equality, but because they weren’t giving a thought to how ‘able-bodied’ a crew member was. If you can help man the ship, you can help turn a profit, and if you can help turn a profit, that’s all a pirate cares for.
Unfortunately, there is still a battle in current society to treat people as equal and to not care about other people’s disabilities or private lives. Many assume that working with someone with a disability is time intensive, but data shows that disabled people take fewer sick days than other team members, mainly because they’re used to experiencing frequent discomfort.
If we can convince more people to be more pirate then the world can, hopefully, become a more accepting place. When we view people’s differences as a strength to be supported, then true creativity, innovation and let’s face it, profit, can really take off.
