Racist Soap Dispenser
Share:
It has always been assumed that washing your hands in a public bathroom is pretty simple- so simple that it doesn’t really require much thought or effort. Actually, it turns out that like some other “simple” aspects of day to day life, washing your hands is another thing that has been made difficult for those of us with a darker skin tone.
If you haven’t already seen it, this video reveals how even a product as basic as an electronic soap dispenser has been engineered to favour lighter people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNimkFCx-4k
In the manufacturing of this soap dispenser, it is clear that no one took into account that people’s hands do not just come in one colour.
This is a working, real life example of the need to have a racially diverse work force in all industries but in this particular case, the tech industry. All races need to be represented to avoid technological exclusion. This whole situation could have been avoided if the dispenser had been tested on a range of skin colours.
It may seem trivial- after all, it is just a soap dispenser. But the top and bottom of this whole situation is that a man was excluded from being able to complete a basic human task because of careless engineering.