Nobody gives you a guidebook
Michelle Scicluna, Founder of The Disability Force
Coach, strategic advisor and speaker.
Nobody gives you a guidebook when you first become disabled. And nobody gives one to the people around you either: the managers, colleagues and HR teams who are also trying to work out what to do.
I built The Disability Force to change that. Our purpose is to update the way people think about and relate to disability at work, so more people can find work, enjoy work and sustain work.
Portrait of Michelle by Carla WatkinsThe gap I found
I acquired a disability at 28. It changed my physical reality enough that it led to my medical retirement at the time. Having been through that experience myself, I noticed that different systems looked at my situation in very different ways, often without knowing what the others were doing. Medical teams focused on symptoms. Workplace processes focused on compliance and adjustments.
I realised the people around me were navigating it without a guidebook too. Nobody was holding the whole picture, in a way that was practical for the people living and working inside it.
So I built a framework for that. The Disability Force Framework helps everyone involved ask one question: what is the disability force at play here? It meets people where they are first, and then opens up the rest of the picture.
Coaching that’s grounded in evidence
I trained in coaching at the University of Cambridge in 2018 and 2019, then spent three years coaching people outside the disability space before I specialised. I wanted my coaching to be mature before I brought it to disabled clients.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helped me rebuild my own working life around my values following my disability, and this also inspired me to train in it with Dr Russ Harris, one of the leading practitioners in the field. I’ve also trained in group coaching with leading expert Dr Ana Paula Nacif, and in neurodiversity and coaching. I work to the EMCC Global Code of Ethics, and I have regular coaching supervision.
A team who live it too
The Disability Force was always meant to be bigger than me. I work with a wonderful team of associate coaches, and every one of them has lived experience of disability, personally or as a parent. Between them, they bring senior corporate leadership, disability strategy, higher education and master-level executive coaching experience, and they hold ICF and EMCC credentials. Everyone meets the same standard: evidence-based qualifications and practice, combined with lived experience.
Clients include
The University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, Starling, Newable, Ambitious Essex Growth Hub and Smarter Society.
Michelle has also spoken as a panellist at BT, with Small Business Britain, about assistive technology and AI as a disabled entrepreneur.
Let’s talk
The best way to know whether we’re right for you is a conversation. Book a free 20-minute Chemistry Chat. Tell us what’s happening, ask anything you like, and finish with a short coaching taster.