Wednesday, November 19, 2008

I have special needs

What do you know? Nothing from me for almost two weeks and then two posts in one day. Well, I just had to log on because I was amused to find out this morning that apparently I have "special needs".

I have been a Fire Warden for our floor for about three years or so now and I'm in the process of handing over to a colleague as I won't be here next year. We both attended a 1 hour training session this morning. I do these whenever I can because it's the kind of stuff that's easy to forget if you don't keep on top of it. Anyway, this morning we were discussing evacuation procedures and we were reminded that we should first attend to those with special needs, which includes women in their third trimester of pregnancy!

Well, this was news to me. Even better, once we were advised how to deal with these people with special needs we were told that we could then move on to the able-bodied. Excuse me? Exactly what is it about a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy that renders her dis-abled and incapable of removing herself from a burning building? Sure, some of us may be a bit slower than usual - we mightn't be nimbly fleeing down the stairs in a spritely manner but I'll wager that I'm a hell of a lot more able-bodied than the majority of the people in the lecture theatre at the time.

I resisted the temptation to stick up my hand and ask, "Excuse me, but what happens if the fire warden is in her third trimester of pregnancy?"

Hilarious... I can see me using the "special needs" tag at some opportune moments over the coming weeks and months, especially when it comes to packing the car for our weekend away: "Sorry, can't... I'm a bit special!"

No comments: