Let’s Talk Disability – Newly Acquired Disability, Inclusive Teaching & Rethinking What an Accessible University Looks Like
Download MP3Featuring Dr Nick Weise & Professor Sarah Sharples
Hosted by Professor Jackie Carter
Hosted by Professor Jackie Carter
In this rich and compelling episode of Let’s Talk Disability, Professor Jackie Carter welcomes two guests who bring together deeply personal insight and significant institutional influence: Dr Nick Weise, Senior Lecturer in the Medical School and the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, and Professor Sarah Sharples, the newly appointed Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
This conversation is powerful, warm, and unusually timely — because Nick is speaking about the lived experience of newly acquiring a disability. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 33, he is still navigating what it means to transition almost overnight from being non-disabled to living with unpredictable, life-altering symptoms. His account is honest, eloquent and deeply human: from losing sensation in his legs, to navigating bladder challenges, to the emotional weight of early months filled with sadness, uncertainty and change.
Nick also shares how he adapted his teaching — already rooted in flipped learning and interactive pedagogy — to accommodate mobility limits, fatigue and cognitive load. His candour about explaining MS to students, adjusting teaching spaces, and finding dignity through openness gives the episode a practical and profound edge. His reflections highlight how inclusive design is not just about ramps or room layouts — but about psychological safety, flexible teaching environments, and understanding the human story behind support plans.
Joining him is Professor Sarah Sharples, only weeks into her new role at Manchester but already deeply thoughtful about disability inclusion. As a professor of human factors and former Chief Scientific Advisor for the Department for Transport, she brings a systems-level understanding of accessibility, ergonomics and equity. She listens with empathy, asks thoughtful questions about support systems, inclusive teaching, fatigue, and campus design, and reflects openly on the responsibilities of leadership, culture-building and structural change.
Together, Nick and Sarah explore themes including:
- the emotional journey of receiving a new diagnosis and navigating early uncertainty
- how support plans, hybrid working and accessible spaces enable disabled staff to thrive
- flipped learning as a vehicle for both inclusion and pedagogical excellence
- the power of psychological safety: “we value what you bring, and we will adapt for you”
- the real constraints disabled staff face with travel, fatigue, commuting and campus movement
- the need to rethink academic excellence beyond counting outputs
- accessible teaching spaces, hybrid limitations, and why lecture theatres may not serve modern pedagogy
- safety, confidence and community as essential ingredients for cultural change
- the Tivoli Gardens leadership philosophy — everyone owning their 3‑metre radius
- the importance of small interventions: microphones, doors, toilets, taxi vouchers, quiet graduations
- the loneliness, cost and effort behind travelling as a disabled academic
- the University’s Manchester 2035 strategy and its promise for a more inclusive future
The conversation is alive with insight, vulnerability and mutual respect. Nick’s storytelling brings listeners into the lived, sensory reality of MS; Sarah’s reflections bring leadership humility, curiosity and determination; Jackie brings warmth, wisdom and the unflinching reminder that inclusion requires both conversation and action.
As always, the episode ends with “one things”:
• Nick’s request: phase out lecture theatres in favour of flat, flexible teaching spaces that support interactive, accessible learning for staff and students.
• Sarah’s commitment: to spend time listening to and shadowing disabled staff and students, learning directly from their lived realities in Science & Engineering — and to ensure those voices shape future decisions.
• Nick’s request: phase out lecture theatres in favour of flat, flexible teaching spaces that support interactive, accessible learning for staff and students.
• Sarah’s commitment: to spend time listening to and shadowing disabled staff and students, learning directly from their lived realities in Science & Engineering — and to ensure those voices shape future decisions.
This episode is uplifting, honest and future-focused — an essential listen for anyone passionate about disability inclusion, accessible teaching, and building a University culture where every colleague and student can flourish.
Send us your questions or comments to equalityanddiversity@manchester.ac.uk with the subject 'LTD' or connect with Jackie on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjackiecarter
Send us your questions or comments to equalityanddiversity@manchester.ac.uk with the subject 'LTD' or connect with Jackie on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjackiecarter
Listen, learn, and help drive real change—because disability inclusion benefits everyone.
Creators and Guests
Host
Professor Jackie Carter
Academic EDI Lead for Disability, member of the Shaw Trust Power 100 for 2023. Author of Work Placements, Internships & Applied Social Research. Prof of Statistical Literacy. FaCSS, NTF. 1-in-20 Women in Data. Late Bloomer. @GM4Women
Guest
Nicholas Weise
Nick is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy holding joint Senior Lectureships in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and Manchester Medical School. He currently serves as the Faculty of Biology Medicine & Health's Lead for Student Experience & Inclusion and Teaching & Learning Enhancement Lead for the Chemistry discipline, as well as being a Departmental Head of Employability in the School of Natural Sciences. He sits on the Faculty of Science & Engineering’s Teaching Academy Committee and is an Academic Coordinator for three Peer Support schemes: - University-wide Commuter Peer Mentoring - Chemistry Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) - Faculty-level Industrial Placement Mentoring
Guest
Professor Sarah Sharples, FREng, CErgHF, FIET, FIEHF
Professor Sarah Sharples, FREng, CErgHF, FIET, FIEHF, has joined the University as the new Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and a member of our University Executive. Sarah joins the University from the Department for Transport where she has been Chief Scientific Adviser since 2021, seconded from the University of Nottingham. At the DfT she leads on many of the engineering and science challenges in transport, including decarbonisation, applications of artificial intelligence and cross-modal safety. She is an international expert in the field of human factors and its application to engineering problems. Human factors is a scientific discipline which uses an understanding of human capabilities and limitations to design systems to support human performance, wellbeing and safety. Sarah has previously held the roles the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and People (2018-2021) and Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange (Engineering) (2015-2018) at the University of Nottingham. She has recently been appointed to the role of Deputy Chair of Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029 Unit of Assessment Panel 12 (Engineering), was previously a member of EPSRC Council and Advance HE Athena Swan Governance Board and is currently the CSA member of ESRC Council. She was President of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors 2015-2016 and her academic research, funded by industry and UKRI, has considered how complex systems bring people and technology together in the domains of transport, healthcare and manufacturing.
