The Disability Force Framework: Mapping the Forces that Shape Disability, Work, and Inclusion
When I first began building this business and shaping The Disability Force, I knew I wanted to create more than a coaching service.
I wanted to name the real forces that shape how disability is lived and understood in workplaces, in policy, and in everyday interactions. Through learning, listening, testing, and building, I’ve developed a framework to help make sense of these experiences. Today, I’m sharing it publicly for the first time.
Disability is not one fixed experience, it is contextual. That truth sits at the heart of The Disability Force Framework, a model built to reframe how we understand and relate to disability in life, work, and leadership.
Disability can be:
Positive - a source of creativity, resilience, and innovation
Neutral - simply part of life with no added significance
Negative - when attitudes, systems, or barriers make participation harder
The Disability Force Quadrant Model
The Quadrant Model illustrates the four dominant ways disability is framed in life, work, and society:
Medical Model - focuses on health, treatment, and symptoms
Charity Model - frames disability through pity, inspiration, or dependency
Legal Model - centres on compliance, obligations, and risk
Social Model - identifies barriers, values agency, and seeks systemic change
Disability is often considered through a single lens: as a medical issue to be treated, a charitable cause to be supported, a legal compliance duty to be managed, or a social barrier to be overcome.
As a disabled person, I am grateful to the Social Model of Disability, which modernised our understanding of disability. For many, this model brought a new sense of agency, while also demanding advocacy. I remain thankful to the advocates who brought us this far, and to those still working tirelessly on behalf of disabled people today.
But what happens when the other models are active and relevant in a given context? How do these different perspectives influence whether disabled people have agency, are included in opportunities, or excluded by default?
I believe most people, organisations, and policies are influenced by more than one quadrant. The value of the Quadrant Model lies in recognising which forces are most active, and reflecting on how they shape outcomes. The Quadrant Model is a reflective tool, used to identify tensions that can be experienced by disabled people in life and work, and the role non-disabled people might play within these tensions as well.
Lately, it can feel like the world is more divided than connected. How do we work from a place of understanding, and meet people where they are first, then work together for better outcomes for everyone?
The Disability Force Framework supports people to reflect, navigate, and create change in ways that feel constructive, calm, and inclusive.
It is a reflective tool for:
Disabled professionals and entrepreneurs navigating daily realities and systems
Non-disabled colleagues and leaders wanting to better understand ways to support disabled colleagues
Organisations wanting to create inclusive working policies and practices.
The Disability Force Coaching Model
We recognise that the same performance and wellbeing factors central to traditional career, leadership, business, and entrepreneur coaching remain just as important when working with disability. But for many disabled professionals, leaders, and entrepreneurs, there are additional factors layered on top. These factors can be physical, procedural, cultural, attitudinal, or a blend of these factors. They can present challenges that non-disabled people may not face, slowing progress, draining energy, giving rise to feelings of isolation, and making it harder to perform at their best.
The Disability Force Coaching Model applies a non-directive, evidence-based coaching approach, grounded in the Social Model of Disability and the Quadrant Model. By naming and understanding these additional forces, we help people return more quickly to operating within the circles of performance and wellbeing.
Our coaching model supports:
Performance and wellbeing, as together they create sustainable performance.
Clarity and agency, when navigating complexity at work or in business
Growth based on the unique talent, skills and context, without deficit-thinking or advice-giving
Our coaching model works with individuals, groups, and organisations because it adapts to the specific circumstance where inclusion, leadership, and change need to happen.
Publishing This Work
The Disability Force Framework brings together lived experience, evidence-based coaching, and a systemic lens. It is more than a model, it is a practical tool for building cultures where difference is valued and inclusion is embedded.
It is a call to:
See differently
Lead differently.
Act differently.
Learn More
🌐 HOME PAGE
📩 CONTACT US
© Michelle Scicluna, The Disability Force 2025. All rights reserved.
Intellectual Property: The visuals of the Quadrant Model and Coaching Model you see here are proprietary concepts, created to ensure this work is recognised, protected, and usable across individual, organisational, and systemic contexts. This publication marks their launch into the public domain.