Empowering engineers to create an accessible world so everyone belongs!

We help engineers understand the needs of the disabled community through education and partnerships so they can create accessible environments.

blue wheelchair on a white background. 4 hands are surrounding the chair

What We Do

Towards Belonging, founded by Katy Deacon is dedicated to empowering engineers to create accessible environments.

We act as a bridge, enabling the engineering community to listen to and comprehend the voices of disabled people allowing engineers to design for a more inclusive and accessible world.

Disabled? Your Voice Matters!

Is your world inaccessible? Do you want engineers to create accessible facilities, buildings and websites?

You need to tell them! Now is your chance. Get your voice heard. Help engineers understand so they can build an accessible world.

Helping Engineers Understand

Towards Belonging is committed to helping the engineering world understand the needs of the disabled community. 

Here’s how we educate and promote inclusive design – one wheel at a time – so everyone can belong.

White woman with dark hair on the left Sitting and speaking with a white gentleman who is smiling and facing her And another woman who has her back to the camera

Facilitation, collaboration and partnership working

Foster productive discussions and collaborative problem-solving sessions. We use conversations and interactions with disabled people to help engineers understand the reasons for inclusive thinking and inclusive engineering design.

Inclusive Engineering Education

Enable the integration of first hand experiences into the design process with our inclusive engineering education that includes lectures, discussion forums, and consultations.

A large audience looking at a white dark haired middle aged woman on a stage with a screen depicting the difference between the health model of disability and the social model of disability

Keynote Speaker

Engage and inspire your audience with insightful presentations on accessible engineering and inclusive design principles.
White dark haired middle aged woman, in a wheelchair. She is on stage, speaking to a large audience with her hands outstretched explaining about the social model of disability

Mentoring

Benefit from personalised guidance and support. We are dedicated to nurturing talent and fostering inclusivity in engineering.
Word cloud highlighting the Mentoring Process

What Our Clients Think

“We worked with Katy as a speaker for an event for IET Scholarship recipients and she was both excellent and engaging in her delivery.

She was incredibly informative and spoke at length about a truly important subject that young engineers should keep at the forefront of their minds. Katy drew on her own personal experiences to bring the subject to life even more to fully demonstrate the significance and independence of equality, diversity and inclusion for engineers.

We look forward to the opportunity to work with Katy in the future.”

 

Tanya Spencer

IET Awards and Prizes Manager

“As part of our plans for Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2024, we were delighted to welcome Katy to our network group meeting to share the IET’s work and commitments to neurodiversity and EDI in general.

Katy is a fantastic speaker. Her presentation was full of knowledge, energy, and a clear passion for the subjects. As a neurodiversity network, we took away some great insights and advice that we immediately found useful, and we also received ideas for developing neuro-inclusion practices at Hoare Lea.

We look forward to staying in touch with Katy and welcoming her back for future updates and guidance.”

Richard Wood

Senior HR Business Partner, Hoare Lea

Latest News

Disruptor for good 2025 (1)

Deacon: Finalist Disruptor For Good – 2025 Northern Power Women Awards!

We’re proud to announce that Katy Deacon, our founder and managing director has been named as a finalist in the […]

Katy Deacon: Finalist for The Empowerment Awards 2025

Exciting News! We’re thrilled to announce that our founder and director is a Finalist for The Empowerment Awards 2025! We’re […]

Katy Deacon listed in prestigious Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 2024 

Katy Deacon, listed in prestigious Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 2024  This year’s Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 list has […]

Visiting professorship begins

My work over the past few weeks has been focused on groundwork. As you may remember, it is my ambition […]

Royal Academy of Engineering Logo

Visiting Professor in inclusive engineering

This week, I have been at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London. This was an opportunity for the Royal […]

Black background with the words Podcast written in bold letters. Above this is 2 microphones and Towards Belonging Logo

STEM Positive Disruptor: MIA’s conversation with Katy Deacon CEng FIET IET Trustee & EDI Chair

Listen to this STEM Positive Disruptor Podcast - MIA conversation with our founder Katy Deacon.

Barriers are meant to be broken

People with disabilities face numerous barriers: attitudinal, communication, physical, policy, programmatic, social, and transportation. A UK report highlights design challenges, strategies to overcome barriers, and the impact of COVID-19 on accessibility.

wheelchair symbol surrounded by 4 hands in a circle on a white background

What do we think about when we think about disability?

Disability is not rare; it affects a significant portion of the population at any given time due to various factors like illness, injury, or age. Yet, our societal approach often treats it as an exception rather than the norm. This perspective neglects the need for standard accessibility in our environments and technologies.

Disability Pride Image

Disability Pride

At Towards Belonging, we celebrate disability pride and advocate for the rights and inclusion of individuals with disabilities.

Who We've Worked With

Towards Belonging has proudly worked with a variety of organisations
and universities to make the engineering industry more dinclusive.

Award-Winning Service