Parent-led. Access-focused. Built for change.
The Accessible Parenting Network
The Accessible Parenting Network is a growing community of disabled parents working together to advance accessibility, drive change and put lived experience at the heart of decision-making.
Get in touch
For press, partnership or launch enquiries, email hello@accessibleparenting.org
When parenting becomes accessible, everyone benefits.
Why we exist
Parenting is challenging enough without unnecessary barriers.
Yet too often, disabled parents are expected to adapt to products, services, environments and systems that were never designed with them in mind. From baby equipment and parent groups to healthcare, workplaces and public policy, accessibility is too often treated as an afterthought rather than a starting point.
The result isn't just frustration. It can mean exclusion, lost opportunities, greater physical and emotional strain, and the feeling that parenting wasn't built to include you.
The Accessible Parenting Network exists to change those systems, not disabled parents.
By bringing together lived experience, we work alongside organisations, brands and decision-makers to create a future where accessibility is designed in from the start, allowing disabled parents to parent in the ways that work for them.
“The tears were never because of my baby. They came from trying to parent in a world that wasn't built for parents like me.”
Hi, I'm Melissa.
Becoming a mum to my daughter, Ottilly, changed my life in more ways than I ever imagined. It also opened my eyes to just how inaccessible the world can be for disabled parents.
I was born without my right arm, but it wasn't until I became a parent that I truly realised how many of the challenges I faced weren't because I was disabled. They were because the world around me wasn't designed with disabled parents in mind.
From baby products and parent groups to healthcare and everyday experiences, I kept asking the same question: why are disabled parents still expected to adapt, instead of the world adapting with us?
That's why I created The Accessible Parenting Network. But this isn't about my story alone.
It's about bringing disabled parents together to turn lived experience into meaningful change, working alongside organisations, brands and policymakers to create a world where parenting is accessible by design, not by exception.
As an actor and writer working across television and theatre, I've seen the power that stories have to shape perceptions and inspire change. I hope to use those skills to help tell the stories of disabled parents, drive change, and ensure lived experience is at the heart of decision-making.
Because disabled parents shouldn't have to overcome unnecessary barriers just to raise their children.
Our Vision
Creating a world that works for disabled parents.
Support matters. But real change happens when disabled parents help shape the world around them.
The Accessible Parenting Network is building a national movement that brings disabled parents together to improve the accessibility of the products, services, policies and environments that shape family life.
Because disabled parents deserve more than support when barriers already exist. We deserve a seat at the table where products are designed, services are shaped, policies are written and decisions are made.
That's the future we're building, together.
Our Work
Strategic areas for change.
Our work connects disabled parents' lived experience with the organisations and decisions that shape family life.
Healthcare
Community
Research
Campaigns
Policy
Accessibility
Get Involved
Join the movement or work with us as a partner.
For disabled parents
Join the Network
Join a growing national parent network built around lived experience, shared priorities and collective influence.
- join the community
- share lived experience
- help shape priorities
- take part in research
- support product testing
- join campaigns and events
For organisations
Become an Accessibility Partner
Work with disabled parents to improve accessibility across products, services, experiences, research and policy.
- brands
- manufacturers
- healthcare providers
- designers
- charities
- researchers
- government and local authorities
Get involved
Tell us how you would like to take part.
We only ask for the information needed to respond to your enquiry and understand how you may want to be involved.