About us
What is DisMantle Initiative?
DisMantle Initiative is an award-winning company that helps anyone wishing to identify and dismantle barriers that affect disabled people.
We provide training, consultancy, and auditing to uncover ableism and anti-ableist solutions.
What is Ableism?
Ableism is discrimination in favour of non-disabled (abled- bodied) people to the detriment of disabled people.
This causes disabled people and their needs to be ignored or forgotten or not seen as important to consider, leading to barriers being created.
Our Values:
At the core of DisMantle Initiative is the belief that Disabled people are a valuable pool of talent that is underestimated, underutilised and underrepresented in the workplace. Our goal is to support businesses to dismantle the barriers that prevent disabled people from entering or remaining in the workplace to create a more inclusive and accessible environment for all.
At DisMantle Initiative, we use a relational lens to view disability, aiming to promote an ethos of empathy and compassion rather than sympathy that recognises that disability exists at the intersection of The Body, and how it is perceived, The Resources we have at our disposal, The environment we move through, and The Culture in which we exist within.
Our Goal:
The goal of DisMantle Initiative is to reach a point where Disability is no longer viewed as a negative and we can talk about disability with neutrality.
We want to neutralise the stigma that surrounds disability to reach Disability Neutrality where it is understood that disability is not inherently negative or positive. Proactive inclusion and our unique “4 Pillars of Anti-Ableism” is the method we use to reach that goal.
Meet Our Founder
I'm Sarah Arch, Founder and Director of the DisMantle Initiative. As a disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent woman with over 20 years of experience supporting deaf and disabled people, I’m dedicated to dismantling societal barriers so disabled people can thrive.
My journey into disability advocacy began early, growing up with a profoundly Deaf brother. I learned British Sign Language (BSL) from a young age, advancing to work as a Communication Support Worker and Sensory Support Practitioner with the local authority.
After becoming frustrated by the lack of career progression, I decided to return to education, earning a 1st Class degree in Special Educational Needs and Disability Studies and later, a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice.
This academic path led me to discover Anti-Ableism, a concept that resonated deeply and inspired me to work toward transforming workplace disability practices.
Personally, I’ve faced my own health challenges. Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2014, Psoriatic Arthritis in 2017, and a bunch of other autoimmune conditions along the way, all triggered by pregnancy and childbirth, I’ve needed to navigate chronic pain and fatigue whilst also balancing motherhood to three neurodivergent children and my career.
Most recently, in 2022, after losing so many of my executive functioning coping strategies during the Covid-19 pandemic, I was diagnosed with ADHD, which further shaped my understanding of disability.