Most people do not know it from meeting me but I am partially sighted, this is the politically correct way to say it since I feel more partially blind. I often wonder if my business quailifies as a minority business. I have never followed up on this since I think I do okay without assistance but at the same time being physically disabled does have its downsides to business development, etc. What really gets me though is when I read information like the following found on the wesbite of the US Department of Transportation; http://www.osdbu.dot.gov/DBEProgram/definitions.cfm
If you do not want to follow the link here is the highlight (lowlight?);
African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific and Subcontinent Asian Americans, and women are presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged.
My points are;
1) I would be pretty upset if it was presumed that I am socially and economically disadvantaged.
2) I am upset that people with physical disabilities are not included
3) with women included the US government is already presuming over 50% of the population is disadvantaged, I find something defeatist and pessamistic about this wording
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Everything is relative, right? By disadvantaged they mean with respect to deep-pocketed, connected, well-established companies or individuals who are competing for govt contracts.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in my reading, i find tha they've left the door open for reps from any of the groups presumed to be disadvantaged to in fact end up classified as quite advantaged indeed.
My biggest problem with the DBE programs, as I have experinced it, is that there is too little emphasis on transitioning companies out of dbe status and into the bigtime. That ought to be a goal.