More Happy News, although I found this on my own. Its from this week!

Help for the handicapped can be a way of helping everyone

AT THE main international airport for Mexico City, the first thing to notice is that the path from the baggage claim is lined with smiling employees guiding passengers to their taxis or connecting flights. The second is that they are all in wheelchairs. Since the opening of a new terminal in November 2007, the airport has hired some 60 disabled, bilingual workers to serve as Mexico’s face to the world. Their presence delights both passengers, who frequently offer congratulations and ask to take their picture, and their superiors. “They’re professional, attentive, always in a good mood, and never miss work,” says Héctor Velázquez, the airport’s director.

Mr Velázquez says he first thought of seeking out disabled staff after being impressed by the performance of Jazmín Flores Martínez, a young labour lawyer suffering from severe arthritis. He instructed a subcontracting firm to take on 20 graduates of a physical and psychological training programme for the handicapped, and then tripled the programme’s size upon seeing the results. The workers say they are thrilled by the public exposure—and by their respectable $550 a month salaries. “If you don’t have a job, you sit at home all day thinking about what hurts,” says Ms Martínez. “Now, we’re independent, and people can see that our physical condition doesn’t matter. They don’t look at you as some strange creature any more.”

Another beneficiary is the Mexican government, now at the vanguard of the disabled-rights movement in the developing world. In 2005 it established a council to co-ordinate its efforts across state agencies. Since then, the government has launched a number of initiatives, including installing wheelchair ramps in 26,000 schools, and providing subsidised loans for housing for the disabled. According to the council, the proportion of government buildings accessible to the handicapped will increase from 40% to 90% by 2012, and all hospitals will include sign-language interpreters by the same date.

Unhappily, the example set by the airport is rare. Employment among the disabled, who represent nearly 10% of Mexico’s population, is less than half that of the rest of society, and in the public sector just 0.4% of workers are disabled, according to the National Council for People with Disabilities. Perhaps the most promising avenue for progress is the example of the airport employees: Jesús Carbajal Briones, one of javascript:void(0)Terminal 2’s wheelchair battalion, says businessmen passing through routinely ask him about hiring his counterparts.