Hard Launch: The Disability Force
The Origin Story
Michelle Scicluna, founder of The Disability Force, coach & consultant.
The Disability Force quietly came into being 18 months ago, but the idea behind it had been percolating for many years, inspired by my own lived experience after acquiring a disability.
Before, when I had health privilege, I could rise to challenges and react to needs and situations mostly when they happened. I was the work hard, play hard type – career driven, successful, hugely energetic, sporty, social, and always hungry for culture and travel. I wanted to try and learn almost everything, which I mostly did!
This all changed when an undiagnosed virus caused permanent damage to the nerves in my circulatory system. There are no medications specific to my condition. We are not a large enough patient group to be properly researched and funded, so doctors do their best using other medication to manage symptoms rather than address the root cause.
I was fortunate enough to take part in a pilot programme under my cardiologist at King’s College Hospital. It used psychological and behavioural science to help me live with my new and altered physical reality — in ways that enabled me to feel like myself again.
This changed everything.
After years of watching my life get smaller and smaller, I was able to stabilise my health, manage the way I lived, and plan strategically for the future again. That experience inspired my passion for learning about decision-making, strategic planning, and achievable actions as skills in their own right.
The Birth of The Disability Force
When I began my coaching certification with the University of Cambridge, I knew I wanted to build something that was hard to find: a high-quality, non-medicalised support service for disabled people in their professional lives. Something grounded in evidence-based psychology and behavioural science, not based on doctors, pity, charity, or compliance.
Over the past seven years, I’ve worked as a business and career coach, first building my experience in the wider population, and then specialising to bring those skills into the disability space. I soft launched The Disability Force last year, serving, building, testing, listening, and refining. It’s been about clarity: who I serve, what I do, how I do it, and most importantly, why it matters.
The Framework and Quadrant Model
Through this journey, I identified the unique strength of The Disability Force and built The Disability Force Framework and Quadrant Model. This is more than coaching — it’s a lens that helps leaders, organisations, and disabled professionals see disability differently.
The Disability Force is about reframing disability, it is not one fixed experience.
It’s contextual.
Sometimes positive — a source of insight, creativity, and innovation.
Sometimes neutral — just a part of life with no relevance to a situation or setting.
Sometimes negative — when systems, attitudes, or barriers make participation harder.
Always contextual — shaped by environment, systems, and support.
The Disability Force Framework and Quadrant Model bring this clarity to life. We help people and organisations cut through outdated assumptions, illuminate blind spots, and build cultures where difference is valued and inclusion is embedded. This is what makes The Disability Force distinct.
Why This Matters
The hard launch of The Disability Force today means stepping fully into this identity: a coaching and training business grounded in evidence-based practice, lived experience, and a clear, systemic model of disability. The Disability Force is not just about coaching. We deliver clarity, strategy, and confidence to:
Individuals navigating careers or entrepreneurship with a disability
Organisations that want to do better but don’t know how
The Future Starts Here
For organisations, it means shifting away from compliance-driven or tokenistic approaches, and towards sustainable inclusion that benefits every employee.
For disabled individuals and entrepreneurs, it means coaching that acknowledges lived experience, recognises additional barriers, and creates practical strategies to succeed — in work, business, and life.
We’ve already supported disabled individuals to take control of their careers, and delivered inclusive leadership coaching to institutions like the University of Cambridge.
And we’re just getting started!