Business Continuity Disaster Recovery COOP Crisis Management John Glenn CRP MBCI
After thought
More on invisible handicaps
JOHN
GLENN, MBCI
Certified Business Continuity Planner
In it, a number of disabilities were identified; some permanent disabilities and some temporary, pregnancy being one.
But as I was surfing someplace today I discovered another disability and that led to the discovery of still another. I am ashamed I didn't think of them before.
Literacy
I hold citizenship in two "melting pot" countries.
My wife is a naturalized citizen of the U.S. and speaks at least 4 languages (to my poor attempt at one). From time to time she asks me what a particular word means. Not often; her English is very good, but it is not her first language and she is no William F. Buckley Jr.
She is otherwise free of what normally are termed disabilities or, for the less "PC," handicaps.
My Mother-In-Law, who I think is the greatest mom around, still is in the "old country," except for her, it is the "new" country.
She emigrated from the country of her birth and youth in 1969 to a country where she was unable to speak, read, or write the language. Her husband, my Father-In-Law, had a smattering of the new country's language, but he never became an Abba Eban. Neither, I hasten to add, knew English, so that presented some interesting moments as I courted their daughter.
Unlike my parents-in-law, when I arrived overseas, the government had a program in place to teach me how to communicate in one of the official languages (there are two). I can't claim to be a good language student, but I can read and comprehend signs that translate to "Emergency Exit." I do know the word for hospital, telephone, ambulance, and pharmacy; in other words, I have a "survival" command of the language. The only time I really get stuck is when an English word - e.g. "Special" - is transliterated; I spent an hour trying to figure out "transistor" one day.
My Mother-In-Law is not as young as she was once, and she gets around a little more slowly (another handicap - old age; who would have thought?), but if some started yelling "Fire," she might not understand and very likely would not know what to do - where are the exits, even if they are marked.
Back in the USA, there is an on-going "discussion" about having to translate rules and regulations into other languages. Why can't the guests - illegal aliens, legal residents, temporary residents - learn to speak the language of the country?
I'm sure there are as many reasons as there are people who cannot, will not, make an effort to master elementary English. To be fair, it IS a difficult language and its grammar and sentence structure are exceptional - as in every other language (I know) is structured differently. Japanese, German, Hebrew, Arabic, even French and Russian follow the same structure, but not English.
People in the US and other English-speaking countries need to have at least "language survival skills"; how to identify FIRE EXIT and HOSPITAL, TELEPHONE, etc. Symbols help, but in the work environment, words are found more often than symbols, and verbal directions, given under pressure and in haste, may be misunderstood.
Vocabulary
Hand-in-hand with literacy as a "handicap" is vocabulary.
If most people are like this scrivener, we understand more than we can say; if you tell me in my second language to leave via the emergency exit, I know what is wanted of me.
But, in the days before my vocabulary equated to Ben Yehuda's (equivalent to Merriam-Webster's Unabridged, and p.s., my vocab is very, very far from Ben Yehuda's) if I had to TELL someone to get out through the emergency exit, I was limited to pointing and pushing, two actions not always well received.
Even then, the language structure got in the way.
I can remember going to a physical. The guy in front of me had a smaller vocabulary than I. The nurse stood the new immigrant in front of an Xray machine and commanded "Take a breath."
The fellow looked at her wondering what the heck she was trying to tell him.
Again, "Breathe!"
Finally, I demonstrated for the fellow. He took his breath, the nurse got her picture, and the line moved on.
Two quick asides.
One: Numbers are not always what they seem. Some folks write ten thousand as 10,000; others as 10 000, and still others as 10000. I recall a New York City professor railing at a Greek lad because the student failed to put a comma in a number. I thought NYC was supposed to be sophisticated, worldly, with knowledgeable people. This gentleman, who wondered if there was life west of the Hudson, hardly exemplified the urbanite I had conjured.
Two: Words are not always the same. In the US, after millions comes billions. In the UK, where they invented the language, US billions equate to UK milliards; a US trillion is a UK billion.
We also have a problem with "table." Table something in the US and you put it away (under the table?); table it in the UK and parts of Canada and you are putting it on the table for discussion.
Education is, along with expanded use of "international" signs, the answer to both of the problems. Trouble is, not everyone has the time to sign up for English as a Second Language course - my #1 son teaches ESL in Florida to newcomers from all over the world - or the money to pay for the course or, in some cases, the "legalness" to take the course.
Until everyone, everywhere, has and takes advantage of opportunities to learn the language of the land, it behooves Business Continuity planners to look for ways to assure everyone, regardless of language prowess is protected.
The easiest way I know to protect people is the "buddy system."
Normally I promote the buddy system to groups of from 5 to 10 people. But that lets visitors slip through the cracks. Unless, of course, they always are with escorts, and that requires another Business Continuity planner attribute: the ability to write policies and procedures beyond strictly Business Continuity issues.
John Glenn, MBCI, has been helping organizations of all types avoid or mitigate risks to their operations since 1994. Comments about this article, or others at http://JohnGlennMBCI.com/ may be sent to JohnGlennCRP @ yahoo.com.
