But He Isn't An Affirmative Action Hire
He sounds like a great addition to any business (that has a job that doesn't have to be done while walking around and lifting things). And it would only take interviewing him and hearing his work ethic to understand that.

Jerry McGill, who was paralyzed as a teen when he was hit in the spine by a bullet, tries to roll onto the affirmative action bandwagon. He writes in The New York Times that affirmative action is the reason for his success. He's wrong.

Sure, a "government-sponsored" program to find disabled high school students jobs led him to his (second) job as a teen after his being paralyzed, but the program didn't force anybody to hire him or tell a business or institution to hire the less qualified (with the "right" skin color).

And he was such a terrific employee that the woman who hired him took him to lunch at the end of the summer and told him he'd have a job with her the next summer:

That June I nervously started my first placement, at a dermatology office at Bellevue Hospital, a bus ride from where my family now lived in Chelsea. Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, I sorted dermatology slides, answered phones and ran materials to and from Bellevue and the neighboring N.Y.U. medical center. I loved it. Someone depended on me to show up. I never took a sick day that summer.

That job gave me a powerful sense of purpose and belonging. I became friendly with many of the staff members there, like nurses, doctors and lab technicians.

...My boss at Bellevue was Rachel, a middle-aged doctor, who talked to me as if I were an adult. She set the bar impossibly high for all of my future bosses. She was humorous and laid-back, but was also conscientious and well respected by her peers. I remember thinking that if I ever got to be someone's boss, I'd strive to be like her.

On my last day there before having to return to school for my senior year, Rachel took me out to lunch at a popular Indian restaurant. She told me she often took new interns there. I felt special, important, appreciated. She said she would miss me and that if I wanted to return, there would be a job there for me next summer. I nodded, thinking that was exactly what I wanted. But that next summer the program gave me a different placement at the Bobst Library at N.Y.U. in the heart of Greenwich Village, placing bar codes in books.

Though the mood and responsibilities were different, the pride and sense of self-worth were the same. It gave me great satisfaction to get out of the house by 8 every morning knowing I wouldn't be back until nightfall because I had a job. I had to be someplace where my knowledge and expertise were needed.

...My belief is that the people who are against affirmative action must lack an empathy gene. Oh, if they could only roll a mile in my wheelchair. The unemployment rates for people with disabilities worldwide are mind-numbingly high. I know because I've traveled to over two dozen countries and met these people, as a tour guide leader for those with disabilities. The main reason the jobless rate is so high for people with disabilities is that they are not given an equal chance in the mainstream work world.

That's because people are stupid. I know people who are in wheelchairs.

And here's a bit from an assistant ad I ran (and no, I'm no longer looking). But my assistant telecommutes -- we work all day over Skype. Whether that person has working legs is immaterial to me:

Disabled people are encouraged to apply. For the purposes of this job, I'm just interested in your brain and not whether you can run the 50-yard dash.