A severely sight impaired woman who was once refused entry to a shop because of her guide dog is now using her lived experience to influence how businesses approach accessibility.
Sangeeta Uppaladinni first gained media attention in 2012 when she was asked to leave a souvenir shop in London during a visit for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend. That experience, along with ongoing barriers she has encountered, has since inspired her to take action.
She is now launching Brand Positive Encounters®, a new initiative aimed at helping organisations improve accessibility across their brand touchpoints for pan-disabled customers, while also unlocking the potential of the “purple pound”.
“Too many businesses are still treating accessibility as a compliance exercise instead of looking at the whole customer experience journey,” Ms Uppaladinni, from Alsager, Cheshire, said.
“There are 16.1 million disabled people in the UK, with a collective spending power of £446 billion a year. Can businesses afford to miss out on that?
“When businesses make their brand touchpoints accessible, they can tap into that spending power as another revenue stream. At the same time, pan-disabled people can buy from the brands they want to love, with ease. It’s a win-win.”
At the centre of the venture is what Sangeeta views as a largely untapped market opportunity that has often gone unnoticed.
Ms Uppaladinni said: “Businesses often say they are meeting accessibility compliance and that should be enough. But in my view, there has not been enough progress in making brand touchpoints genuinely accessible in this day and age.
“That is the gap Brand Positive Encounters® is here to address. It’s about helping organisations move beyond minimum standards and take an honest look at how their brand is experienced by pan-disabled people in the real world. Accessibility should be seen as a route to better design, clearer communication and more meaningful engagement.”
She adds that the business is deeply informed by her own personal journey.
“I have lived this reality since birth. The daily obstacles of trying to participate in a world not built for disabled people, and even trying to buy from the brands we love, can lead to frustration, stress and disillusionment.
“I wanted to roll up my sleeves and make a difference by working with businesses as a strategic partner in accessibility. I do that through a 360-degree approach, focusing on leadership mindset, behavioural change and auditing brand touchpoints.”
With a strong background in marketing communications, accessibility, disability advocacy, policy, and consultancy, Ms Uppaladinni has worked with organisations including Siemens, DKT International, NHS bodies, Spacial.com, and Oxford College of Marketing, in addition to her own consultancy projects.
About Brand Positive Encounters®Brand Positive Encounters® offers two core services. The first is a brand touchpoint audit, enabling organisations to assess accessibility across customer-facing channels, produce a detailed report and identify practical improvements, often achievable within existing resources.
The second is The Great Escape Blueprint, a presentation and immersive workshop inspired by the real events of ‘WWII The Great Escape’. It focuses on project management, leadership mindset, problem-solving under pressure, adaptability, resilience and teamwork.
For Sangeeta, the two strands are closely connected.
“The Great Escape Blueprint is not separate from accessibility,” she said. “It’s about constraints, problem-solving under pressure, adaptability and resilience. I drew parallels between the barriers faced by the POWS – the great escapers, the obstacles I face through disability, and the challenges businesses face today.”
“What makes Brand Positive Encounters® different is its behavioural, lived-experience approach, looking beyond whether something passes checks to how it actually feels and functions for people. Many organisations focus on compliance. I want businesses to look wider than that.”
The business is aimed primarily at private sector organisations, particularly mid to large corporates, as well as public sector bodies seeking to improve access to services and information for pan-disabled audiences. It is launching nationally, with ambitions to expand internationally.
With Brand Positive Encounters® now live, Sangeeta is urging organisations to stop overlooking an untapped market and start creating accessible brand experiences for the people who want to engage with, and buy from, them.
