Huh, I'm exactly the opposite. While I do donate money to social programs, any time I have the opportunity to help others I'd much rather it be with my time and efforts than with simply handing over cash for somebody else to deal with people who need assistance. It is much more fulfilling for me to be able to interact with people I'm helping, and who may help me some day. If this is as simple as taking a few more minutes to interact with a retail clerk that needs extra time communicating, that seems like an almost no effort opportunity.

It depends on the extent of the disability, but if your job is to stand in a store and answer verbal questions, and you can't speak, there are probably better things to be doing with your life.

Consider the other perspective here: I'd posit that all else being equal, most people would rather not have to go to work every day, particularly if "work" is a crappy retail job. We force most people to work because their jobs benefit the rest of society, but if someone can't work in a way that helps others, why force them to do it? Because it's not fair to everyone else?

Because hard work is good for the soul? Screw that! Go read books, raise your children, live your life as best you can, and let the rest of us take care of you. If the situation were reversed, I'd expect you to do the same for us.

Agreed, donating money to social programs is helpful but isn't it much better to allow people to have a richer social life and to feel respected? It's not much more work to write on an ipad when asking a deaf employee and it allows him to have a much more fulfilling life.

Why is employment equal to fulfillment? This feels like a backwards approach to making a better society. We should be trying to reduce the amount of work that needs to be done, so that people can interact with others on their own terms, rather than expecting workplaces to provide for a person's emotional, social, as well as economic needs.

Nothing wrong with this point of view, there are definitely times when I want to be out of the store as fast as humanly possible.

Couple of times I have been served by a deaf employee in my local Apple store, we typed sentences on the iPad. It was slower a bit but otherwise perfectly fine.

If this person wanted just money from social programs they would do that. But you could tell it was important for them to work, to communicate with other people, and have a sense of purpose. And it was my pleasure and privilege to participate in this, for these brief several minutes.

It might not have been the fastest way but it was definitely pleasant (2nd part of your criteria), for both of us.

I like the idea of people having a life and not a warehouse to be put into