Hands-on, lived-experience training, advocacy and SEND workshops — built and delivered by people who navigate disability every single day, not read about it.
Most disability awareness training is written by people who have read about disability. Ours is written by someone who has lived inside the system it describes — the appointments, the assessments, the access that was promised and didn’t arrive.
That’s the whole premise of Able & Together Merseyside CIC: every service we run, from advocacy support to a full training day, is shaped by decades of first-hand experience, not a manual. We’re a registered Community Interest Company, reinvesting everything we make back into the community we serve across the Liverpool City Region.
When we train your team, we don’t just tell them what a barrier looks like. We put them in front of one — a door that won’t open, a till they can’t hear, a route they can’t see — because that’s the only way the learning actually sticks.
Every service is delivered or co-delivered by someone with direct, personal experience of disability.
Navigate disability services with confidence, understand your rights and entitlements, and build the skills to self-advocate — with practical, hands-on support at every step.
1:1 & family supportA full, hands-on training day for organisations — inclusive communication, legal duties under the Equality Act, and best-practice accessibility, taught through real physical experience.
From £750 / sessionAccessible sessions for SEND learners covering consent, healthy relationships, online safety and age-appropriate health education, delivered in plain, respectful language.
Schools & collegesParticipants move through the same sequence, in the same order, every session — because the order is part of the learning.
Blindfolded, in a circle, locating a teammate by voice and clap alone.
Paired sighted-guide practice — leading a blindfolded partner safely through the building.
First time in a self-propelling wheelchair — steering, braking, and everyday obstacles.
A real wheelchair-adapted vehicle — ramps, remotes and hand controls, explained first-hand.
Out into a real supermarket — a shopping list, a wheelchair or blindfold, and no shortcuts.
Padded gloves on — buttons, laces and everyday fiddly tasks suddenly aren’t simple.
Headphones up, sound gone — trying to follow a conversation by lip-reading alone.
Wheelchair leg, blindfolded egg-and-spoon leg — the whole team, working as one.
Anonymous feedback, collected on paper at every Disability Awareness Training session we’ve delivered so far.
I found the whole session really useful — it really opened my eyes to the struggles that people go through daily. This will allow me to be more patient, understanding and respectful.
How to use a wheelchair and manoeuvring — this was harder than I expected and very eye opening.
The mitts on our hands making everything difficult was eye opening, and also the lack of accessibility in shops — even though they claim to be inclusive, it’s the bare minimum.
Really amazing session — very grateful to be given this insight. Thank you Lisa and colleagues.
Source: Scope UK, 2018 — the scale of who your organisation already serves, and could serve better.
