Award category:
Beth is a passionate disability advocate and leader in the Retail sector. She started her career as a Management Consultant at Deloitte, having graduated from Cambridge University. She is now a Commercial Strategy Manager at Sainsbury’s, where she also founded and chairs the EnAble Disability Network, the first of its kind in the company’s history.
Born with a moderate-severe hearing impairment, Beth wears a hearing aid and has a lifetime of experience living and working with a hidden disability. She is dedicated to using her personal experience and successes to demonstrate what people with disabilities can achieve. She focuses on raising awareness, increasing confidence and simplifying workplace processes to better support people with disabilities.
Beth has extensive experience championing disability. Under her tenure she has grown the Sainsbury’s EnAble network to ~2,000 members, with her advocacy leading to Board Sponsor Listening Groups that have formed the blueprint for aiding greater disability representation, and a greatly increased calendar of disability events to celebrate disability and raise awareness.
As an ambassador for AccessAble, Beth has used her experience of hearing loss and as a trained interior designer to drive improved accessibility of websites, venues and small businesses across the UK. She has participated in panel debates at disability forums and employment conferences, helping businesses to see accessibility challenges from a disabled person’s perspective, and sharing how reasonable adjustments can empower and support disabled employees. She works closely with the RNID to create inclusive workplace cultures for people with hearing loss, with her insights helping to shape their strategy, campaigns and to agitate for cultural change.
As a presenter volunteer for the National Deaf Children’s Society, Beth has shared her experience of congenital hearing loss with over 100 families, inspiring them through her achievements and helping to remove the barriers that hold deaf children back.
Beth imagines a world where people with disabilities can achieve their full potential. One invaluable piece of advice to her was that asking for support is not a weakness but a strength. She uses her successes to show others what is possible with the right support. To help empower others to have the confidence to ask for help and in doing so, to break down the barriers that hold disabled people back.
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