We recently hosted a small conference for the Sir Ratan Tata Trust which organizations working on disability issues all over the country attended. It was a very interesting and provocative experience, with many new ideas discussed and challenges raised. We all learned a lot and some of the issues which came up will keep us thinking for a long, long time.

But the thing I keep thinking about is the tiny detail of the nametags.

Sonam, who runs our Rainbow Resale Project, volunteered to make them for us and I assumed they would be the usual ordinary things – maybe a colorful piece of cardboard, with the name written out by hand. There were only forty people attending, so printing in quantity wasn’t economical.

But just look what she came up with! Blue tags for our guests, yellow for staff, and each one with its own individual design.

Mine had multi-colored apples, others had kites, butterflies, musical notes and flowers. They were beautiful and special. I saved mine. I’ll bet most of the participants did the same.

Such a small thing. It was only a name tag. But it was done with love and skill and it added an extra note of festivity and concern to the conference. It told the participants they mattered, that we cared enough to give importance to their names.

It was Sonam’s birthday, too. This year, WE got the gift!