More bad journalism

To the untrained eye, this story in Monday's Guardian no doubt seems innocuous or even positive. So why does it really annoy me? There has been some discussion on the Ouch! messageboard about its offensive language and the patronising tone - this is spot on, but there is more to it than that for me. It's the sinister cheeriness of the story, as though it is supposed to give people hope. i.e. "Don't worry that your local supermarket won't employ you in case you scare away the customers - why not start your own business and make your millions that way instead?" It somehow manages to both express surprise at Liz Jackson's success while, at the same time, denying the discriminatory barriers that virtually all other disabled people experience in the workplace. The implication is that equality laws are not really necessary as long as you are made of the "right stuff."