The Team

Esi Hardy

Esi is the founder and owner of Celebrating Disability. She founded the business in 2017 after a career in public services, social care and the charity sector. In this time, all her roles were based around raising awareness of, enabling and advocating for the rights of disabled people.

Esi has had a diverse career; starting as a theatre actress followed by a brief stint as a psychodynamic counsellor and finally moving into training and public speaking. Whilst the career path may seem diverse, one thing that has always remained has been the passion for advocating for the rights and inclusion of disabled people in every part of life.

Esi has cerebral palsy; a physical disability caused by lack of oxygen to the brain. Referring to herself as a hybrid wheelchair user, Esi uses lived experiences to highlight the disabling barriers facing disabled people interacting and engaging with organisations and businesses. As a result, this enables Celebrating Disability clients to implement strategies that empowers a diverse workforce truly inclusive of Disabled People.

Eveline Mujinya 

Eveline (Eve) is a multi-skilled professional whose background ranges from an applied research space within medical technology, sales consultancy, and mental healthcare services. These experiences involved working with a diverse range of international and UK-based clients. Eve has been a member of the Psychology and Social Care Committee, advocating for social change so that the voices of people of colour are heard in workspaces. During the pandemic, Eve established Uplift With Her to support women of colour with wellness to overcome trauma.

Eve believes real change is demonstrated through behaviour, not just commitments. While many people may see progress as taking external steps towards equality, true social change begins from within by challenging our thought processes. This is why learning and self-improvement have been at the heart of her life journey. A few life-altering experiences drove this, evolving her understanding of her invisible disabilities.  

As a person with intersecting disabilities, I have found ways around life so that it does not stop me. My autoimmune disorder causes fatigue and a heightened response to prolonged stress. Across the last five years of education, I found that my symptoms exasperated due to the intensity of the course, especially as it required advanced study in an environment that did not adapt holistically to my individual needs. I rarely felt seen for the woman I am and reduced myself to what I thought I could not achieve. When my dyslexia intersects with my other disabilities, it can be debilitating. Finding ways to overcome these barriers came at an expensive cost to my well-being, so I now dedicate my time to helping others care for themselves, spreading awareness, and regaining independence after illness.

Catherine Riley

Catherine (Cath) has spent most of her career working in and with large corporate organisations.  She founded and then built a business over 12 years which had clients across the world and in 2022, she sold so she could move onto pastures new.  Cath understands the intrinsic functionality of what makes a business tick and what limitations and restrictions can come from this. 

Cath has a hidden disability, she is registered as severely sight impaired but other than wearing glasses, anyone who meets Cath would not know she has a disability.  She wishes to use this lived experience with the clients of Celebrating Disability to spread awareness and share knowledge of her daily challenges, to better equip others with the tools they require to work and manage within the workplace.  Cath lives by the ethos ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’, but after a session with Cath the aim is all delegates will know and can move forwards to benefit the individual and the organisation.

Ryan Compton

Ryan is the Director of Dialogue Training Academy as well as a qualified and experienced coach, mentor and mediator. Ryan provides a range of training services including disability awareness training.

Ryan is also the co-founder of the Disability Mediation Standards Committee, where he plays an instrumental role in ensuring mediation practices are inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities.

Between the ages of 6-28 Ryan had between 100-150 operations due to Glaucoma. He was registered blind at the age of 21. Ryan utilises his professional expertise in the world of equality, diversity and inclusion as well as lived experience in disability to support organisations in finding effective solutions for their employees and customers who have disabilities. Ryan is very passionate about supporting and empowering disabled people, and making sure their voices are heard.

He has also been a Samaritan since 2010, as an active listener, where he speaks with hundreds of people with a range of disabilities including mental health.

Zaineb Hadi

Zaineb is an access consultant and trainer, and a member of the UK Access Association.

Zaineb previously worked in film programming, workshop facilitation and community events organising, in roles that involved accessibility and inclusion advocacy. They went on to graduate from the Pathways Academy, a year-long training programme at the Centre for Accessible Environments – the UK’s leading authority on inclusive design. This, coupled with their passion for disability inclusion and access for all, led them to specialise in access consulting and training.

As a neurodivergent person with M.E., Zaineb’s work is informed by their lived experience as a disabled person and is grounded in disability justice and the social model of disability, with an aim to support organisations to integrate accessibility, remove barriers and establish long-lasting positive change.

Amy Worgan

Amy fills the role of Case Study Copywriter for Celebrating Disability. As a freelancer, she’s been able to dip into the ponds of many different styles of writing, honing her voice for what is needed. This also rings true for her lived experience of disability.

An adult-diagnosed autistic who spent 21 years masking her neurodivergence under the guise of being an introvert or just a bit different, Amy knows how to change up her tone to fit what’s needed. She has always been passionate about disability justice, but learning and accepting her place within that label took time to fully understand that she was one of the people she had been trying to vouch for all along. She sees her autism almost as a long-term relationship — sometimes they argue and say things they’ll regret, but they always make up in the end over an info-dump about her hyperfixations.

Amy has always been rooted in the world of words – from growing up as a neurodivergent kid who consumed any written media she could find, to an adult with a BA in English and an MA in Creative Writing being asked ‘what will you do with that, then?’ After her studies, she worked in retail while she tried to answer that question, and sure enough, along came copywriting, and combined with her passion for advocating about disability, she found herself here.

Previous Clients Include