Toucan’s Trainer Academy

Toucan Diversity Training CIC is a disabled people-led organisation delivering disability training by disabled people.

Madissa Asgari, Toucan Diversity’s late founder, struggled to get support when she first began as a Disability Equality Trainer. She had to study her way through numerous books, written by disability activists, before compiling her own training modules. These modules are now CPD-accredited.

She felt strongly that just sitting in a wheelchair did not qualify her to be a disability trainer, nor did she want to make people aware of what it was like to be disabled.

She wanted the learners to understand where their own subconscious bias and understanding of disability came from, thus beginning the change in mind sets and perceptions to create social change for disabled people.

Through generous funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, we were able to pilot Toucan’s Trainer Academy in 2024 to enhance potential trainers with the best possible chance to succeed as accredited trainers.

We want disabled trainers to reach their full potential. Therefore, we have developed a training programme to give individuals the tools and support they need to succeed in becoming an accredited trainer. Toucan Diversity has a unique perspective on the daily challenges of disabled people and how they can use their lived experiences and insights to become professional trainers.