About us
What is DisMantle Initiative?
DisMantle Initiative is an award-winning company that helps businesses who wish to identify and dismantle barriers in the workplace 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
Hi, I'm Sarah Arch, Founder and Director of DisMantle Initiative.
I am a disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent woman. I have over 20 years of experience working with deaf and disabled people, and an enduring passion for supporting disabled people by breaking down societal barriers to enable disabled people to fulfil their potential.
I began my journey into the world of disability at an early age. I'm the youngest of three siblings, with my middle brother being profoundly Deaf. because of this, I began learning British Sign Language (BSL) from a very young age. I completed my BSL Stage 1 at 13 years old and BSL Stage 2 at 15 years old. By 18 I had begun working as a Teaching Assistant in a Hearing Impaired Unit and by 21 I completed my BSL Level 3 and was working as a Communication Support Worker with children and young adults. I continued working with Deaf children, working up to the position of Sensory Support Practitioner within the local authority whilst building my own family until the age of 33.
Frustrated by the lack of further career progression, I decided it was time to I finally explored higher education. I graduated with 1st Class honours in Special Educational Needs and Disability Studies in 2018 at age 35. In September 2018 I began working as a Disability Advisor in a local university. This opportunity allowed me to continue to grow as a disability expert. It was through this, I was offered the opportunity to complete a Post graduate Certificate of Academic Practice which I graduated from in 2023.
It was this professional and academic journey that lead me to discovering Anti-Ableism. It immediately spoke to my soul and I could see the potential for it to revolutionise disability within the workplace.
Not only did my professional and academic experience of disability grow, my own personal journey with disability expanded. In 2014, after 3 years of symptoms, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia- a long-term condition that is characterised by widespread pain and fatigue, triggered by a fall whilst carrying my second child in my owns. In 2017, whilst studying at undergraduate, my eldest child was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Condition and I received further diagnosis of Psoriatic Arthritis, a condition that causes skin lesions, joint inflammation, pain and fatigue. This was triggered by the birth of my third child. In December 2022, following a period of high reflection during the Covid- 19 pandemic, I sort out assessment and diagnosis of ADHD.