Practical, scenario-based training for frontline teams, built on lived experience and 17 years' professional experience in theatre and live events.
My training builds staff confidence across a wide range of customer interactions, and sessions can be tailored to the specific challenges your team faces.
Under pressure, that fear turns into hesitation, awkwardness, and poor service for disabled patrons. My training replaces this fear with calm, direct communication by equipping your staff with practical tools drawn from real situations they face every day.
Sessions are in person, usually around two hours, and work best with groups of 12 to 25.
My sessions are in person and shaped by the people in the room. I take the conversation wherever it naturally goes, grounded in the social model of disability and in situations your team will recognise.
Every disabled person is unique and experiences the world differently, yet people with impairments universally face barriers and exclusion. This training is about communication and removing those barriers, rather than addressing specific impairments.
My training carries 40 years of ideas and values shaped by disabled people: the social model of disability, delivered by someone who lives it.
An introduction to disability, language and the social model of disability. The focus is on building confidence and removing the fear of getting it wrong, because that fear is usually what gets in the way of good service.
Working through situations staff actually encounter: supporting someone in a busy environment, knowing when to ask direct questions, staying calm when things feel unfamiliar or pressured.
"I arrive as a customer with a ticket. I have a speech impairment. I ask a question, but you can't understand me the first time I speak. What do you do?"
Everything is discussed and problem-solved together. Never role-played.
There's an important reason for that, and it's part of what we talk about in the room.
Confidence leads to consistent approaches across teams and a better experience for disabled audiences.
Speaking directly with disabled customers, without hesitation or awkwardness.
The fear of "getting it wrong" replaced with practical, human approaches.
A clear understanding of removing barriers in systems, not just interactions.
Confidence under pressure, in real frontline situations.
I have a speech impairment. When I deliver training, my assistant repeats what I say so that everyone in the room can follow. I don't see that as a workaround. It is the social model in action: the barrier is not my speech, it is whether the communication around it works.
Your staff will meet customers who communicate differently, at the box office, in the foyer or on the phone. In my sessions they experience that for themselves: listening carefully, checking they have understood, and staying relaxed when a conversation doesn't go the way they expect.
By the end of a session, what felt unfamiliar at the start usually feels normal. That is the confidence I want your team to take back to work.
Draft wording for Josh to approve
Josh Hepple is a trainer, writer and educator with cerebral palsy. His training career began at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and over the last 17 years he has worked with organisations from the BFI and Apple to Shakespeare's Globe.
Josh spends much of his time teaching Law, and his doctoral work looked at sexuality, Human Rights Law and colonialism. He also spent 10 years as a Samaritan across many different volunteer roles. At any one time Josh can be doing ongoing work with 10 different companies, and he uses his life experience to make the training as holistic and thorough as possible while staying true to the social model.
Co-creator of ANIMAL, an award-winning play about disability and sexuality.
"We have worked closely with Josh for a number of years and he has been foundational in helping us make impactful changes to our operation. As a festival of temporary venues in found spaces, accessibility poses significant challenges and Josh's input has proved essential in helping us approach these. Additionally, his training of our festival team and the advice he provides to our companies have helped nurture confidence for our frontline staff and empower our artists in embedding access."The Pleasance Theatre
Tell me a little about your team and the environments they work in. Every conversation starts with what's actually happening on your front line.
Book a 30 minute call Or email meJosh Hepple Disability Equality Training
Last updated: October 2026
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Josh Hepple Disability Equality Training
Last updated: October 2026
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Josh Hepple Disability Equality Training
Last updated: October 2026
These terms apply to your use of joshhepple.com ("the website"). By using the website you agree to these terms. The website is operated by Josh Hepple. You can contact us at josh.hepple@gmail.com.
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