Simon Minty's recent thoughts and more

Simon about to go on stage at EY, with a poster quote above him asking 'why do uncertain times need the certainty of purpose?' It's been quite a start to the year. Various projects were postponed from the end of 2018 and like a concertina, they bunched up into the start of 2019. That meant a lot of travel, including two trips to Berlin, one to Munich, then to Zurich, one to Australia and one to the USA all before April.  A trip to a very cold Berlin, in January was for pleasure as was the long trip 'down under', but the remainder have been work.  I love travel and working abroad. You can read how much in a  blog  from last year. Indeed, I've recently written a chapter for a forthcoming book about international consultancy and diversity with Middlesex University. However, on the final trip when I was in the USA I got what I only can describe as travellers’ blues. I've talked about it on stage at a few conferences subsequently with ...

Acting on Disability team,  L-R Georgie, Ben, Simon, Don and Juliette Just back from a trip to the USA to provide training for a global tech firm.  The Sminty team, all five of us, decided to  walk the ten blocks from our hotel to our first event in downtown Manhattan. We thought we would make a striking alternative to the famous Reservoir Dogs photo - two men on mobility scooters, two women with hidden disabilities and a man who has Aspergers.  As we walked I was talking about how polite New Yorkers were, how they move out of the way for wheelchair and scooter users and often say hello or smile. An older lady, wrapped in a thick scarf in sweltering heat, saw us. She stopped and as we passed her, pointed at me and yelled ‘Now that is not normal!’ My fellow scooter user waited a moment and then asked me ‘Well how do you feel about that?’ I paused to process it and then answered, ‘I feel I should be angry or upset but actually I am rather pleased. I now hav...

Whilst chatting with a long standing client  she exclaimed “Simon, I had no idea about your work internationally. You need to tell people about it!”   We were attending a meeting at Middlesex University to hear about new research in to how diversity strategies have been implemented in global organisations. I was invited by the British Council, an organisation I've worked with for many years, who had commissioned the research. I was asked to speak outlining my experience and the work I’ve done. This is work I love and have enjoyed immensely over the years. So here we go... Meeting bankers in Hong Kong I should clarify I specifically work in field of disability rather than the broader diversity arena. I have been working internationally since 2002. Around half of those trips have been because the British Council have asked me to go to a region. The other half has been for a range of organisations including Bank of America, Google, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and McDonald...

Thailand  Simon in front of the Golden Buddha at the temple of Wat Traimit, Bangkok I visited Thailand in March after years of hesitation assuming it would be too hard to get around with a mobility scooter, not to mention emotionality tiring if people overreacted to a short man wandering around. Although not easy, access was ok for me and people weren't especially interested. We spent a few days in Bangkok visiting Royal Palaces, street markets and a terrifying rooftop bar! Then we went to Khau Lak for sunshine and beach time. The world is smaller, difference is everywhere and thankfully most people were polite and helpful. A few couldn't resist taking out their phones to take a photo of me and for once, I decided not to try to control this and gradually I started to not even care. The photo to the right was taken with permission, and I don't think I could look more like a tourist if I'd tried. Disability and comedy A new book about disability and comedy h...

On 18th July 2016, I had a total hip replacement operation. I had been avoiding surgery for ten years mostly as I knew anaesthetic for people with my form of dwarfism (SEDc) can have complications. I was lucky to find a fantastic surgeon, a top notch anaesthetist and awesome orthopaedic surgical care practitioner. That was nine weeks ago... I now have better mobility and the original pain has gone. It gets better each day. During my rehabilitation I stopped working, however, I did record a couple of podcasts. Forgive my crowing but both shows are a treat! Maybe that's because I was the nice side of the operation and therefore euphoric....or maybe it's the medication. What happens is all sorts of half formed thoughts  fly from my mouth and the lovely people I do the shows with work their magic. I hope you enjoy them. BBC Ouch (59 mins)  Highlights... - losing it with 'I live in a bucket' news story  - when the little voice in your head is Louis Walsh - that some...

It seemed inevitable that one day there would be a podcast of Phil Friend and me chatting about all things disability. Phil and I have been having such conversations for nearly twenty years, until now, unrecorded, whilst working, travelling or just hanging out together. We have different backgrounds, we are different generations, have divergent politics and different comfort zones. We both share a commitment and passion for equality, fairness and inclusion of disabled people and have spent many years working to achieve it or at least some progress. The great thing about our discussions are that we know one another so well and respect each other so don't have to pull any punches now. Sometimes we're considered, sometimes we shoot from the hip. We can make each other laugh and still, after all this time, make the others jaw drop with a single comment. There's two shows out already. We'll continue to make a show each month until we run out of things to say. Which mea...