Disability Networks
Build community. Influence systems. Centre lived experience.
Disabled staff should not be expected to educate their employers simply because they are Disabled, but when their voices are empowered, supported, and resourced, they become catalysts for transformation.
At Disabled by Society, we help organisations build Disability Networks and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that go beyond box-ticking. We support you to create psychologically safe spaces where Disabled people can connect, organise, and influence, while helping you ensure those spaces have the support and infrastructure needed to thrive.
Whether you’re launching your first Disability Network or scaling an existing one, we offer the structure, strategy, and solidarity to help it succeed.
What We Offer:
We support Disability Networks and ERGs to be safe, strategic and sustainable, aligned with your organisation’s equity goals and grounded in the voices of Disabled staff.
Network Design & Launch
- Co-design of your Disability Network strategy and mission.
- Development of vision, goals and success measures.
- Best practice frameworks for structure, governance and funding.
- Safe and inclusive launch event facilitation.
- Liaison with executive sponsors and leadership.
Toolkits, Templates & Governance
- Customisable ERG starter toolkit.
- Meeting structures and community guidelines.
- Templates for feedback loops and escalation processes.
- Intersectional and trauma-informed governance models.
Training & Capacity Building
- Co-chairs and steering group training.
- Leadership skills for network organisers.
- Navigating power dynamics, tokenism and burnout.
- Allyship and co-conspirators training for non-Disabled staff.
- Board-level awareness sessions on how to listen, not lead.
Embedding Influence, Not Isolation
- Advisory on linking networks to strategy and policy.
- Building internal influence pathways.
- Designing feedback channels with HR, D&I and leadership.
- Ensuring insights from networks drive real change.
- Anti-tokenism strategies and checks.
Ongoing Support & Advisory
- Monthly or quarterly network coaching sessions.
- Policy, process and comms reviews from a network lens.
- Safe space co-facilitation or conflict navigation.
- Crisis-response support for ERGs under pressure.
- Back-end advisory for leaders or internal sponsors.
Why Networks Matter
Disability Networks are not just social groups, they are sites of solidarity, insight and systemic accountability.
But without the right foundations, they risk burnout, tokenism or being sidelined. That’s where we come in.
Create psychologically safe spaces for Disabled staff.
Surface lived experience that informs inclusive policy.
Offer peer support and reduce isolation.
Act as critical friends to leadership.
Drive bottom-up innovation, belonging and change.
Who We Work With
Organisations launching their first Disability Network.
HR, DEI or People Teams looking to empower internal communities.
Networks in crisis or struggling to stay resourced.
Chairs or ERG leaders who need external support.
Global organisations wanting to localise their network model.
We help you build networks and ERGs that create a culture of belonging, networking and support.
Why Disabled by Society?
We’re not just here to support your network, we’ve led them, built them and fought to keep them resourced.
Disabled-owned. Disabled-led.
We don’t need training on the lived experience — we bring it.
Strategic, not symbolic.
We connect your networks to the change they deserve to influence.
Rooted in justice.
Not just identity, but power, systems and transformation.
How We Work
Choose one-off support, ongoing advisory or fractional leadership.
Our approach is:
