Reducing Disability Inequalities Summit

Mark is a disability advocate who works for the WMCA as a Senior policy Officer: Health and Disability. Working hard to improve the West Midlands for disabled people.

As a retired Paralympian Mark is used to being focused and determined to achieve his goals.

Not content with that Mark is also a chair of governors for primary school federation and chair of trustees for the Richard Whitehead Foundation.

Bethany is part of the team at Birmingham City Council Public Health, responsible for the JSNA Deep Dive programme, which is a rolling programme of in-depth needs assessments underpinning the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.

They have recently been working on a Mobility Impairment Deep Dive, focused on understanding the health inequalities and lived experience of these citizens. The programme involves working with local stakeholders to agree actions to take forward, created from evidence-based findings.

Tabiz has worked in local government (Birmingham City Council) for over 15 years in various roles, but all have involved supporting vulnerable citizens. He is currently a Commissioning Manager within the Adult Social Directorate and has managed the Pure project from its conception, several years ago. He has a strong sense of social justice and takes immense in supporting and championing the most vulnerable citizens in society, ensuring they are given opportunities to succeed and prosper, which is what the Pure project is all about.

The Pure project provides intensive support to inactive and unemployed citizens who have complex and multifaceted needs such as learning disabilities/difficulties, mental health conditions, physical and sensory disabilities as well as those experiencing homelessness. The project also helps individuals overcome structural barriers into employment and training, by improving access to employment and training opportunities through better communication with key local employers and supporting individuals on how to carry out effective job searching activities.

Joanna has worked for DWP for over 32 years, and in the last twenty years has specialised in Social Justice areas of work, and in her former role she was a Disability Employment Adviser, based at an office that was selected by DWP nationally, as a Health Model Office. Joanna is passionate about improving opportunities by overcoming barriers into the workplace and being innovative whenever possible.

Since moving district to Birmingham and Solihull, from Black Country in Nov 2020, she has researched Accessibility Technology, to gain a better understanding of how this can help people in the workplace. Joanna has also connected with partners locally to focus on improving Supported Employment opportunities for Birmingham residents.

In her Partnership Role, she has lead roles in Digital Inclusion, Newly Arrived Communities and Drugs & Alcohol.

Email - Joanna.statham@dwp.gov.uk

Phone - 07464 521396 / 0300 074 2409

Theresa has worked within DWP for over 25 years primarily with those long term unemployed and with a health condition or disability. She has lived experience with mental health and neurodiverse conditions which helps her to support people of all ages further forward in their journey.

At present Theresa is a partnership manager primarily focusing on health/disability & pension age customers.

Alistair is a specialist in accessibility and disability inclusion within Walking, Wheeling and Cycling schemes. He manages the Sustrans National Cycle Network across the West Midlands Combined Authority area, and is Sustrans Regional Lead for access projects.  His recent work includes pan-disability access audits of urban streets across the WMCA, including advising on policy and strategy through The West Midlands Disability Working Group. He is also working with National Trust on rural focused access guidance for disabled people accessing green and blue space, as well as working with Active Travel England and Canal and Rivers Trust to develop community co-produced best practice access standards for rural towpaths. 

Outside of his professional role, Alistair is a charity trustee at Construct-Ability which works to improve accessibility and inclusion in the construction industry. 

Email - alistair.crisp@sustrans.org.uk 

 Phone - 07774392828

Campaigns and Policy Lead at Wheels for Wellbeing. With a background in teaching, volunteering and campaigning and with lived experience as a Disabled cyclist, parent and carer, Kate is passionate about ensuring public realm and active travel schemes meet and exceed good practice standards for every potential user.

Wheels for Wellbeing are a Disabled People’s Organisation dedicated to improving accessibility of walking, wheeling and cycling for everyone. Our pan-impairment approach and lived experience as Disabled people inform our work as thought leaders and as consultants on schemes for public and private providers of all sizes.

Email - kate@wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk

Sureya is a community investment professional supporting and founding not for profit companies for social good in the Black Country.

Her career is hallmarked by a mission to reduce inequity in communities and enabling people to thrive by working with partners to create systems change for the benefit of society.

Sureya is the Head of Social Business at Black Country Housing Group a social business working in local communities to provide decent homes and high-quality care. She is a fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs and associate researcher for the Social Research Association and the Royal College of Art. She is a champion for human centred design to deliver  inclusive  services to  enable residents to live healthy, happy lives.

Pooja has worked in the Public Sector for over eight years. She is currently working in the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) in the Health and Communities Team. A big part of her role is to consider health and housing in her policy work and to support the links between the two to improve health.

Working for Birmingham Mind for almost 13 years, Rachel is currently the Communication and Marketing Lead for the charity. Her passion for mental health awareness and demonstrating the work and impact that Birmingham Mind has upon the people and communities they support, is always at the heart of her work. She can often be found coordinating and attending community events to promote the work of Birmingham Mind across the region.

Email - RachelMcnair@birminghammind.org.uk

Julie has worked for Birmingham Mind for almost 20 years. With her extensive experience, she passionately leads the Community Development Workers Team, striving to bridge health inequalities among African & Caribbean communities, newly arrived individuals, LGBTQIA+ groups, and those navigating the criminal justice system. Julie works not only to support these marginalised communities across Birmingham and Solihull but also strives to foster understanding and unity in the communities Birmingham Mind supports.

Email - JulieCarnell@BirminghamMind.org.uk

Alice Hargreaves is a disabled and neurodivergent entrepreneur and founder of SIC, a social enterprise that works to close the disability employment gap. Prior to founding SIC, Alice spent over a decade as a marketer and writer specialising in EDI, particularly women in STEM and women in leadership.

Christopher Samuel is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in identity and disability politics.

Often echoing the many facets of his own lived experience as a Black disabled man, his work tells stories, highlighting the often unseen experiences of his day to day life and those of others in similar circumstances. 

His practice includes small detailed ink drawings, film, print, audio, research, and large installations.

Samuel works alongside galleries, museums, archives and other institutions to address missing representation in our cultural spaces.

Email - info@christophersamuel.co.uk

Bryony joined WMCA as Strategic Lead for Culture & Creative Industries in October 2024. Prior to this, Bryony was seconded to the WMCA from Arts Council England in 2023 to lead on the delivery of the Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund Culture Pillar and to connect culture in all policy areas of the WMCA. Bryony has also been a Relationship Manager at Arts Council England; Head of Exhibitions at The National Centre for Craft & Design; and Assistant Director at The Scottish Gallery.

South African Chartered Accountant and CFA charterholder by training, Celso left a career in finance to help build cutting-edge technology that creates social impact at scale. He has been with Waymap for almost five years and currently works as Waymap’s COO.

Email - celso.zuccollo@waymapnav.com

Julian Jackson is Founder and CEO of VisionBridge (visionbridge.org.uk), a social enterprise that champions assistive technology innovation and supports the development of particular technologies that will make a measurable difference to people’s quality of life; this includes digital wayfinding such as Waymap (waymapnav.com).

Email - julian@visionbridge.org.uk 

Deniz is a Policy Research Fellow at Policy Connect. As a member of the Accessibility team, Deniz works on assistive and accessible technology and accessible transport policy. They are also a member of the Office for Students Disability in Higher Education Panel and a Disabled Students UK consultant. Previously, Deniz worked as a Parliamentary Assistant in the House of Commons, gaining insight into policy-making processes. Deniz is dedicated to advancing accessibility through research and policy work.

Neil is Natspec TechAbility’s AT Projects Lead. An experienced Assistive Technologist helping people with disabilities in specialist colleges and Karten Centres. Experienced both in specialist/mainstream education, his current focus is in building a network of champions, but he also delivers webinars, training and consultations.

Previous work has included co-authoring the TechAbility Standards, defining the role of the Assistive Technologist (ESCO Framework) and ATech Thursdays webinars for the DfE EdTech Demonstrators Programme.

Erasmus projects have taken him to EU countries and delivered AT elements of a DfID supported project in India. Sitting on the APPGAT and the DfE expert group has enabled him to contribute to policy. He studied the EduAT MSc at the University of Dundee.

Email - Neil.harrodbeck@natspec.org.uk 

I am a Brummie who is disabled myself, living from a young age with Polio and having developed other long-term health conditions as I have got older, including arthritis in the hip and knee. Having lived experience myself of the lack of acceptance of disabled people growing up in the 80s and 90s i wanted to make sure that I could show how my disabilities were not going to hold me back. I know how difficult it was for me in this city as a child and some of the accessibility for me in the city has gotten worse as I have gotten older.

We started our organisation to show anyone struggling with their mental health or the different factors that drive us to have poor mental health that there are ways for us all to feel valued, be seen, do things differently and work towards changing and managing their lives.

We proudly worked alongside a number of organisations and individuals in the city this year to bring the first ever city-wide disability festival to Birmingham, something we are passionate about continuing to organise year on year in the city to celebrate our pride in our disabilities.

Email: info@waysforwellbeing.com

Mobile: 07586088468

I’m Alfie and I’m an 18 year old Autistic person who is a campaigner and fundraiser for Autism and disability awareness and acceptance and much more. I started my work in March 2022 because I realised there wasn’t much awareness and acceptance about being Autistic and experiencing the scale of how many aren’t aware first hand, and since then have featured on national television and worked with Birmingham City and have been mentioned and praised by former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.

Since I started I have raised over £3,000 for Autism charities and have won and been the finalist of three awards.

Email - a4asdawareness@hotmail.com 

Phone - 07476428287 

Dave has worked in adult social care in the West Midlands for forty years across the statutory, independent, and voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors. As CEO of Midland Mencap Dave leads a progressive, citizen focussed organisation providing a wide range of community support services to children, young adults, older adults, and their family carers. The provision of high-quality housing choices, addressing the significant health inequalities faced by learning disabled citizens and facilitating meaningful co-production opportunities underpin Dave’s strategic work. Living with a rare chronic health condition gives Dave lived experience insight into the world of hidden disability.

My Name is Katie Rae and I have been working for Telford & Wrekin Council for just over one year as a Co-production and Engagement Officer, I am also an Expert by Experience due to my lived experience of Adult Social Care as well as a Member of the West Midlands ADASS (Association of Directors of Adult Social Services) Co-production Advisory Group and a Founder Member of the Telford & Wrekin Making It Real Board, which I proudly chaired for four years. I have also worked closely with the University of Chester for a number of years as part of the Partnership Board that delivered the Social Work Apprenticeship Programme. I am disabled and have been a full time wheelchair user for 7 years due to a degenerative genetic condition. I have a fantastic PA/Carer who has been with me for 6 years and without her I truly wouldn’t be able to manage my job and my other voluntary commitments. Outside of the work I do I am a dedicated Cat Parent/servant to 4 fluffy monsters and have also recently got engaged to my incredible partner.