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This Friday (25th August) is the closing date for nominations for the 2006 Remploy "Leading The Way" Awards: .

Now in its tenth year, the awards scheme is, "all about acknowledging, encouraging and advising organisations, of all sectors and sizes, who are adopting best practice and progressive thinking in the employment of disabled people."

There are two categories of award: organisational (small employer, medium employer, large employer, corporate employer, and one for organisations that promote learning and development of disabled people) and individual (business person, Jobcentre Plus employee and - oh, finally - disabled employee). To be eligible to nominate itself, an organisation must employ at least one disabled person.

Now, call Lady Bracknell a jaded old cynic if you will, but experience has taught her that there can be a huge difference between an employer's perception of how well it treats its disabled staff and the perception of its disabled employees themselves. And, given that the winners will benefit from an "externally verified recognition of their equal opportunities policies" and a "positive image of their organisations to existing and future customers", it's a bit of a worry that the online application form doesn't require a statement from a disabled member of staff confirming that everything their employer has just claimed about its marvellously inclusive policies is actually true. Whatever happened to "nothing about us without us", eh?

But perhaps Lady Bracknell is missing something. After all, Mat Fraser appears in all the photographs of last year's ceremony. And, given his reputation, it seems unlikely that he'd put his name to any initiative which relegates disabled people into a supporting role.