I went to a sort of a conference about disability in IBM yesterday.  There was a number of excellent speakers and lots of high powered types about including the IBM UK Manager Larry Hirst, the Government minister for disabilities and social affairs and the BBC's disability correspondent.  The day was really very good and people spoke on a wide range of topics.  The hightlight for me was a talk by a blind entrepreneur who was describing how she set up her business, Great Guns Marketing.  She was also a Christian and I was impressed by how she managed to bring Jesus into what was really quite a high powered talk.  She described how she tried to emulate his management style and the importance of managers being humble.  It's very interesting watching someone who is intelligent with alot of personality and is also blind because they don't give off any obvious body language of the sort of person that they are until they start to speak.  A sighted person who is smart and vivacious will meet the eye of everyone that comes near them and you can usually tell something about them before they even speak.  When such a person is blind, it's interesting because their charm is only directed at you once you introduce yourself and it's more of a surprise.  

Larry Hirst, the UK Manager was quite impressive too and he obviously takes the issue of disability in IBM seriously because he was at the conference for the whole day.  Quite a commitment for a man as busy as he must be.  I chatted to him briefly and managed to take the mickie our of him as he was exchaning business cards with the lady from Great Guns, I'm not sure whether I'm brave or stupid.