My Reflections on ActionAble 2025

What has really shone through for me today was listening to everyone’s stories.

All of us involved have been so wrapped up in getting this wonderful event off the ground – and thank you to every member of the team for your incredible work – that there’s been much more doing than listening!

Which is why today has been so important – and such a revelation. We’ve heard so many inspiring stories. People have shared experiences in the chats that have opened my eyes. We’ve listened not just to what companies are doing to improve diversity but to the real-life stories of the people who really matter. You.

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I hope that this is the beginning of something. A movement that will help to inspire real change in Britain’s workplaces. A change in attitude. A change in how leadership responds to issues that perhaps they don’t always pay enough attention to.

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That’s what ActionAble was set up to do. To create change. And the best way of doing that is to let people tell their stories and to truly hear them. Sir Charlie Mayfield was so right this morning when he said that leaders and organisations will find answers by talking to people and listening to them. And when you work in government as he does, that’s essential.

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That was followed in the chat by a comment that particularly struck home with me: ‘We need to be critical friends. It’s nice to hear positive things but so much better when people tell us what we need to hear.’ And Diane Lightfoot, the CEO of the Business Disability Forum, was spot on when she said that conversations start with what happens at the top. When leaders talk about these issues, then entire companies will. It’s the snowball effect – the more we talk, the more we hear, and the more likely it is that change will happen.

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And the more we talk the better we get at it. Heather Smith at the National Trust made a great observation about the word ‘disclosing’. It has such negative connotations. This is about sharing experiences to help engagement. It’s that collaborative way of thinking that will move the needle. Demands don’t always work but talking very often does.

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If we keep this momentum up, we will find solutions together. Which really came out of the interview with the CBI’s Rain Newton-Smith: it’s not just about what happens today and tomorrow. This is about future generations.

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I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy a fantastic career. And I want to ensure that those beginning or thinking about theirs have the same opportunities I did, no matter who they are.

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It was so inspiring to hear Lynn Rossouw talk about the way PwC views storytelling as a tool to lift inclusion higher up the agenda. Listening to the conversations that are happening and then sharing them. 

And I recognise the truth in what Alana Sellers from Virgin Money said, that we have to build safe spaces so that people can have these conversations without fear. As one delegate wrote so memorably in the chat today: ‘You don’t know how your employer is going to react to your disability until you tell them and then you can’t put the cat back in the bag.’

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These are the lived experiences that we need to understand with greater empathy. I hope that today has provided that for everyone. A chance to hear and learn. To speak up and to share. To find solutions and resolve to enact them.

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Today’s ActionAble event has been the start of something and everyone who has spoken, listened and contributed has been an essential part of that.

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All of us trying to change things for the better. By taking action together.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. Here’s to next year.