Oddly sychronicitously, The Ferrett posted a link to an article just a few entries down my f-list that also deals with this issue, that if you haven't seen, I thought you might be interested. The article is here (http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2010/02/why-diversity-matter-meritocracy.html) while Ferrett's entry, that contains an excerpt that seemed quite a propos is here (http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1402342.html).

I remember the first time I learned that some people don't have hair exactly like mine, and was utterly shocked -- the concept had never occurred to me, and I wonder even now how many people are unaware of it, and think of some of the 'black hairstyles' as being merely ethnic rather than also functional. It also makes me feel terribly ignorant -- how many more such things are there, differences between people, that I simply do not know about?