Nigeria, Oct. 11 -- There is an old story about a lawyer who sold his well to a teacher, then returned demanding payment for the water inside it. The teacher smiled. If the water still belonged to the lawyer, he replied, perhaps the lawyer should remove it or pay rent for storing it in somebody else's well. Suddenly, the lawyer remembered he had only been joking.

It is funny until we recognise ourselves as lawyers.

We tell people with disabilities that public spaces belong to everyone. Then we demand an additional price for entering them. We give them citizenship, but charge for the ramp. We promise education, but make the classroom unreachable. We proclaim equal opportunity, then construct the doorway too narrow for their wheelchair....