I’ve been thinking a lot about what happens next as we prepare for the first meeting of the new ActionAble Advisory Board. As Co-Founder of ActionAble, I’ll be sitting alongside leaders from some of the most influential organisations across UK business and the disability sector.
And, if you had told me a few years ago that I would be around that table helping with them to shape how some of the UK’s biggest organisations think about disability inclusion, I’m not sure I would have believed you.
As we were discussing last week at Connected Britain, real change rarely starts because somebody has all the answers; often it starts because somebody asks a better question.
For ActionAble, one of those moments happened when Sara Weller CBE and I sat together in her Money and Pensions Service office in Bedford and talked about a problem that was simply too big to ignore.
Initially, we decided to create a day that would bring people together to help tackle it. We thought one event and one conversation might be enough to get something moving.
But the more people we spoke to, the clearer it became that this wasn’t simply an inclusion issue for social good. The more we listened, the more we understood how much wider the issue was, touching leadership, workforce data, customer experience and the everyday experiences of colleagues.
That became even clearer as we listened to the community and, later, brought together nine leading Financial Services C-suite leaders at our ActionAble and EY roundtable last November. What we heard reinforced something important: better disability inclusion also represents a significant business opportunity.
That is the thinking behind what we call the Disability Dividend: https://impactmatch.global/disability-dividend-unlocking-growth-uk-financial-services/
As our population and workforce change, understanding disability is increasingly about understanding the people who work for you and the people who buy from you. It means asking whether colleagues feel, as Sara says, ‘safe enough to share’ who they are; whether products and services reflect the people who actually use them; whether Boards have the data they need to understand where barriers exist; and whether organisations see disability inclusion purely through the lens of compliance or recognise the value better inclusion can create for colleagues, customers, businesses and society.
The ambition for ActionAble has therefore grown too.
Our ambition now is to get disability inclusion closer to the centre of Board and Executive decision-making, alongside the conversations businesses are already having about people, customers, growth and long-term performance.
And if you want to start a movement, you need the right people around the table. That means bringing together influence and lived experience, evidence and challenge, with people who understand how large organisations really make decisions- and who are prepared to use their position to help others act.
That is the thinking behind the Advisory Board we have brought together.
I also want to say a very personal thank you to Sara Weller CBE, who will Chair the Board.
Her leadership, credibility and determination have been fundamental to taking ActionAble from that conversation in Bedford to where we are today.
One of Sara’s great strengths is her ability to bring senior leaders into a difficult conversation without making the conversation itself feel difficult – focusing not simply on what is wrong, but on what organisations can practically do next. That spirit of progress, not perfection is something I hope will continue to define ActionAble.
For me and the ImpactMatch team, our role is to help the Board turn its advice and influence into action, connecting the evidence, leaders, partners and practical work needed to make progress.
That means helping connect the evidence, the leaders, the partners and the practical solutions needed to move from an important conversation to sustained change.
Because ultimately, an Advisory Board should not exist simply to advise. The test is what happens because it exists. For me, the questions are whether more Boards discuss disability with better information in front of them, whether more organisations report transparently and design better for disabled colleagues and customers, and, ultimately, whether more people have better opportunities because businesses chose to act.
Those things are much harder to measure than the number of meetings we hold, but they are ultimately what will tell us whether this is working.
During National Inclusion Week, you’ll hear directly from members of our new Advisory Board about why they have chosen to be part of it and what they want to help change.
Then, on 8 October, we will publish the inaugural ActionAble Index 2026, a major new assessment of disability reporting across the FTSE 100 authored by Sara, and use its findings to look at where progress is being made, where gaps remain and what businesses can practically do next. I hope you’ll join us.
Join us on Thursday 8 October, 12.00-1.00pm, for the ActionAble Index 2026 launch webinar: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5217858314039/WN_PUZLxtE1SDuTNvCPg9cIvg
Movements might begin with a handful of people deciding to come together around a table, but they only create lasting change when many more decide to join forces with them.
