The Staff Disability Network is for Sussex staff who self-identify as having a disability. The network hosts termly drop-ins, offers email support and a Teams channel for peer-to-peer connection. The network seeks to raise awareness across campus with events and advocacy within decision-making and policy change. The Network is a community which meets both online and on-campus.

We began in 2017 and are the longest running staff network at the University of Sussex.

The chair of the network, Chloe Ilsley, attends termly committees, working groups and shares anonymous feedback via various mechanisms to change makers across the university to advocate for positive change. They oversee network activities throughout the year to raise awareness and advocate for disabled staff at Sussex.

Recent activities:

• The Network Chair is an active member of the Disability Equality and Inclusion Steering Group – advocating for disabled staff with key decision-makers at the university.
• We are an active member of the improving Workplace Adjustments Working Group – contributing to updating the Workplace Adjustment Toolkit and webpages with colleagues from EDI, HR, Finance and Health & Safety.
• We host regular network meet-ups where you can meet other members and grab a coffee with us at ACCA Cafe. We also offer an online version!
• We host self-development workshops. Last year’s big success was our Access to Work webinars which had great engagement across the university from DSE to HR colleagues. If you’re interested in attending one of these in 2024/25, please email us so we can gauge interest.

Why join the network? 

We asked our members why they joined:

“I would encourage others to join the Staff Disability Network as it has been a really valuable experience for me during my time working at Sussex. The Network is made up of lots of really welcoming and kind people, who have similar experiences to me, and have offered support and advice around lots of different topics. I have learnt a lot from my fellow Disabled colleagues and I always enjoy attending events – whether online or in person – that the Network facilitates.” 

“I joined because I was having difficulty navigating the policies and systems to access what I needed to do my job. I found it helpful to know other people were in a similar situation. And I find it encouraging to know these things are taken forward and addressed.” 

"I joined because I wanted to feel less alone as disabled at the university and to get (and offer) some peer support. I love that there is always someone on the Teams channel to read you post and/or comment. Being part of this network empowered me and brought so much more feeling of belonging to this institution than I had before. Truly invaluable! " 

How to join:

Please email staffdisabilitynetwork@sussex.ac.uk with your request to join. The network is open to anyone who self-identifies as having a disability. There is no obligation to share your disability upon joining and some members like to share with others during our events. This is why we run our events with the Chatham House rule.

Members are invited to the exclusive Staff Disability Network Teams Channel and will be invited to a range of in-person activities throughout the year.

Want to get involved?

We are looking for a Co-chair (Communications and Events Lead) – Vacant [0.1 FTE allocation in line with the University Commitment to Staff Networks]

This new role will collaborate with the network chair and members of the Staff Disability Network to support the running of our annual programme of member-only and university-wide events. The person within this role will create enriching and thought-provoking events centred around themes which are important to our network with a greater aim to raise awareness to the wider community of University of Sussex staff.

If you are interested you can email an expression of interest or requests for further information to the Chair of the network by emailing: staffdisabilitynetwork@sussex.ac.uk

You can find more information and links to useful resources on the disability equality and inclusion pages.

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