Closing the gap between disability rights and disability reality…
Why does dpan exist?
Disability rights in the UK, as we know them today, have real legal foundations — thanks to the disability rights movement and decades of activism that turned exclusion into legal protection. The Equality Act protects the right to reasonable adjustments, to access, to fair treatment at work and in education.
But there's often a gap between what the law promises and what happens day to day, and that gap is where disabled people feel the difference most.
Closing it isn't simple. National organisations work on policy and legislation. Charities provide vital direct support. But the space in between — helping organisations turn good intentions into consistent practice, and helping disabled people understand and use the rights they already have — is where the work often falls through the cracks.
how we close the gap
A stronger network
Campaigns and connections that bring disabled people together within the wider disabled people's movement — through advocacy, community, and disabled history and culture — because navigating rights and access shouldn't be something anyone does alone.
Free toolkits and resources for Disabled People.
Practical guidance for disabled people — starting with employment and education, the two areas where the gap between rights and reality is felt most. Built to be used, not just read.
Implementation consultancy
Practical support for organisations — employers, institutions, trade unions — to turn inclusion commitments into everyday practice. Not policies that sit in a drawer. Working practice that's easy to run and consistently effective.
WHO DO WE WORK WITH?
Grant givers
We exist to close a specific gap: the space between national policy work and ground-level charity delivery, where rights on paper don't always translate into everyday access. We're actively seeking and applying for funding to build innovative, digital-first solutions that close it.
businesses
Getting inclusion right protects you from risk and gets the best out of your people. We help you turn inclusion commitments into everyday practice: practical, evidence-based, and built to last.
Charities, DPOs & Non-profits.
We are stronger together. We aim to complement the existing sector's work and collaborate to innovate new, sustainable ideas.
meet the founder
Built from lived understanding and professional grounding
DPAN is led by Sophie Braithwaite, a disabled Occupational Therapist and MSc candidate in Disability Studies, working directly at the intersection of practice and policy.
DPAN exists because that gap between the two — between what's theoretically right and what actually happens — is where the real work is.
