About Catherine Hale

I’m a researcher and policy specialist with over a decade of experience at the intersection of disability, health, and employment. My own lived experience of disability and the communities I belong to inform all my work. I have partnered with leading UK academics in the field of disability, work and welfare, published in peer-reviewed journals and served as an expert witness to parliamentary inquiries.

Since 2021, I’ve focused on flexible working as the key to bridging employment gaps for disabled people. I developed the Flex Plus model — a disability-centred approach to flexible work — and have led research into barriers and enablers of flexibility within business, in association with King’s College London. I currently lead co-production for WISHES, a major UK trial of job crafting for disabled employees that aims to improve retention and inclusion in the workplace, led by the University of Strathclyde.

My proudest work was founding Chronic Illness Inclusion in 2017 and leading its transformation from a Lottery-funded research project into an advocacy organisation. Through participatory research and engagement with online communities to a survey of over 2,000 people, we developed the concept of energy-limiting conditions (ELCs) — now widely used to recognise the experiences of people with chronic illness, and to advocate for inclusion.

My mission and skills grew out of my earlier campaigning research with NGOs, Disabled People’s Organisations and activist networks, exposing the impact of government policies on disabled people’s lives. My reports cover ESA, PIP, Access to Work, social care and benefit conditionality. As someone living with a severe chronic illness, I’ve experienced first-hand the barriers disabled people face in accessing employment, equality and dignity.

I particularly enjoy collaborating with researchers and policy makers to embed the lived realities of disability into every stage of project design and delivery.