List of disability rights activists

Clinical: Approaches · Group therapy · Techniques · Types of problem · Areas of specialism · Taxonomies · Therapeutic issues · Modes of delivery · Model translation project · Personal experiences ·

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

A disability rights activist or disability rights advocate is someone who works towards the equality of disabled people. Such a person is generally considered a member of the disability rights movement and/or the independent living movement.

By Achievement[]

Helped pass the ADA[]

Robert Burgdorf - drafted the first version of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
Tony Coelho - original congressional sponsor of the ADA
Justin Whitlock Dart, Jr. - helped pass the ADA; co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Bob Dole - Republican senator from Kansas who was a co-writer of the bill with Harkin.[1] Partly disabled through war injuries.
Fred Fay - chair, Justice for All
Lex Frieden - executive director, National Council on Disability
Tom Harkin - Democratic senator from Iowa who introduced the ADA in the Senate. Harkin also delivered part of a speech in sign language so his deaf brother could understand
Steny Hoyer - sponsored the passage of the ADA
Douglas Martin - first executive director of the Westside Center for Independent Living; national leader in social security and health benefits reform; helped pass the ADA; coordinator of ADA and 504 compliance at UCLA
Arlene Mayerson - directing attorney, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
Major Owens - helped pass the ADA

Founded or co-founded an organization[]

Tilly Aston (1873-1947) - Australian disability activist; founder of the Association for the Advancement of the Blind in 1895
Elmer Bartels - co-founder of the Boston Center for Independent Living
Jacquelyn Brand - founder of the Disabled Children's Computer Group and Alliance for Technology Access
Mary Lou Breslin - co-founder and director of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
Marca Bristo - executive director of Chicago's Access Living; former chair of the National Council on Disability; co-founder of the National Council on Independent Living
Joel Bryan - founder and director of Disabled Students' Services, UC Riverside and UC Davis
Sylvia Caras, PhD - on-line mental disability support group pioneer, Protection & Advocacy, Inc. board member, founder of PeopleWho
Diane Coleman, founder of Not Dead Yet (group)
Justin Whitlock Dart, Jr. - helped pass the ADA; co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Fred Fay - co-founder of Boston Center for Independent Living and American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities; instrumental in development of adaptive computer technology
Isabelle Goldenson - lobbied the United States Congress for legislation to assist the disabled; co-founder of United Cerebral Palsy
Paul Hearne - co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD); president of The Dole Foundation
Judy Heumann - co-founder of Disabled in Action; deputy director of the Center For Independent Living, 1976; co-founder and co-director of the World Institute on Disability
Neil Jacobson - co-founder of the Computer Training Project, Berkeley, 1974
I. King Jordan - co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
John D. Kemp - co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Joan Leon - co-founded the World Institute on Disability
Mary Jane Owen - founder and national director of Disabled Catholics in Action; executive director of the National Catholic Office for Individuals with Disabilities
Ed Roberts (activist) - co-founded the World Institute on Disability
Ken Rutherford, PhD - co-founder of the Landmine Survivors Network
Jim Sinclair of Autism Network International
Dr. Sylvia Walker - co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Jerry White - co-founder of the Landmine Survivors Network

By Occupation[]

Authors[]

James Charlton - author/activist who developed a model of different kinds of disability activists groups in the United States
Hugh Gallagher - author, international disability activist; expert on the atrocities committed against people with disabilities by the Nazi regime
Laura Hershey -- poet, author and activist
Paul K. Longmore - author
Cedric Pugh - author; campaigner for disability rights in higher education
Irving Zola - sociologist and author

Broadcasters[]

Peter White, MBE - BBC Disability Correspondent and host of blind man on the rampage and other programmes

Lawyers[]

Timothy Cook

Physicians[]

William Berenberg - Harvard professor and pioneer in the treatment and rehabilitation of cerebral palsy

Politicians[]

Tony Coelho - original congressional sponsor of the ADA
Steny Hoyer - sponsored the passage of the ADA
Ravi Malhotra - disability rights activist and a member of the New Democratic Party
Major Owens - helped pass the ADA
Kathy Sinnott - Irish disability rights campaigner and politician; secretary of the Hope Project

By Nationality[]

Chilean[]

Carlos Kaiser- Founder and advisor member of Independent Living Chile, person in charge of PwD's Issues Municipal Office of Algarrobo Town

American activists[]

Larry Allison - deputy director of the New York City Mayor's Office for the Disabled, 1973-1991
Anita Baldwin - deputy director and head of blind services at the Center for Independent Living, Berkeley, California, early 1980s
Billy Barner - first African American student in UC Berkeley's Cowell Residence Program for Physically Disabled Students, 1969-1973
Elmer Bartels - co-founder of the Boston Center for Independent Living
Gerald Belchick - California Department of Rehabilitation counselor ans liaison to the Cowell Residence program, 1970s
William Berenberg - Harvard professor and pioneer in the treatment and rehabilitation of cerebral palsy
Carol Fewell Billings - attendant at the UC Berkeley's Cowell Residence Program; staff member at the Physically Disabled Students' Program and the Center for Independent Living, Berkeley
Wade Blank - ADAPT founder
Frank Bowe - first CEO of American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities
Jacquelyn Brand - founder of the Disabled Children's Computer Group and Alliance for Technology Access
Edna Brean - nurse coordinator of UC Berkeley's Cowell Residence Program, 1969-1975
Mary Lou Breslin - co-founder and director of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
Marca Bristo - executive director of Chicago's Access Living; former chair of the National Council on Disability; co-founder of the National Council on Independent Living
William Bronston - advocate for deinstitutionalization; physician at Willowbrook State School in New York; medical director and consultant for the California Department of Developmental Services, 1985-
Janet McEwen Brown - Center for Independent Living, Berkeley, newsletter editor, 1972-1976
Henry Bruyn - director of Student Health Services, UC Berkeley, 1959-1972
Joel Bryan - founder and director of Disabled Students' Services, UC Riverside and UC Davis
Robert Burgdorf - drafted the first version of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
Tony Coelho - original congressional sponsor of the ADA
Tracy Copp - an early advocate for people with disabilities
Justin Whitlock Dart, Jr. - helped pass the ADA; co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Dr. Gerben Dejong - director of Research, Economic, and Public Policy at Washington, D.C.'s National Rehabilitation Hospital
Eric Dibner - housing and access specialist and staff member at the Physically Disabled Students' Program, UC Berkeley, and the Center for Independent Living, Berkeley
James Donald - deputy director of California Department of Rehabilitation, 1975-1982
Gunnar Dybwad - early leader of the parents' movement and advocate for deinstitutionalization
Anna Fay - founding member of the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the National Paraplegia Foundation, the Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York, and the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities
Fred Fay - co-founder of Boston Center for Independent Living and American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities; instrumental in development of adaptive computer technology
Dr. Hugh Gallagher - author; expert on the atrocities committed against people with disabilities by the Nazi regime
Jim Gashel - director of communications for the National Federation of the Blind
Isabelle Goldenson - lobbied the United States Congress for legislation to assist the disabled; co-founder of United Cerebral Palsy
Paul Hearne - co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD); president of The Dole Foundation
Laura Hershey - writer and activist
Judy Heumann - co-founder of Disabled in Action; deputy director of the Center For Independent Living, 1976; co-director of the World Institute on Disability
Steny Hoyer - sponsored the passage of the ADA
Neil Jacobson - co-founder of the Computer Training Project, Berkeley, 1974
Kenneth Jernigan - executive director of the National Federation of the Blind
Mark Johnson - member of ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation)
Mary Johnson - creator of The Disability Rag
Cynthia Jones - editor and publisher of Mainstream Magazine
I. King Jordan - co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Deborah Kaplan - founder of the Disability Rights Center, Washington, D.C. in 1976; former Executive Director of the World Institute on Disability (1996 - 2004)
John D. Kemp - co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Gini Laurie - creator of the Rehabilitation Gazette
Paul K. Longmore - author
Douglas Martin - first executive director of the Westside Center for Independent Living; national leader in social security and health benefits reform; helped pass the ADA; coordinator of ADA and 504 compliance at UCLA
Denise McQuade - executive director of the Brooklyn Center for Independent Living
Sharon MistIer - director of the Independence Center of Northern Virginia
David Oaks - Director of MindFreedom International, a coalition of psychiatric survivors movement organizations
Mary Jane Owen - founder and national director of Disabled Catholics in Action; executive director of the National Catholic Office for Individuals with Disabilities
Major Owens - helped pass the ADA
Cedric Pugh - author; campaigner for disability rights in higher education
Ed Roberts (activist) - head of California's Department of Rehabilitation; co-founder of the World Institute on Disability
Robert Ruffner - president of the American Association of Disability Communicators
Marta Russell - author of Beyond Ramps; activist
Mary Switzer - helped shape the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1954; commissioner of vocational rehabilitation
Sunny Taylor - artist, writer and protestor
Dr. Sylvia Walker - co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Madeleine Will - Assistant Secretary of Education
Frieda Zames - former president of Disabled in Action (DIA)
Irving Zola - sociologist and author

Australian activists[]

Tilly Aston (1873-1947) - Australian disability activist; founder of the Association for the Advancement of the Blind in 1895
Judy Singer - coined the term neurodiversity and works for the rights of people on the autistic spectrum

Canadian activists[]

Michelle Dawson - autistic activist who has made ethical challenges to applied behavioral analysis in the Supreme Court of Canada
Tanis Doe nom de plume Vicky D’aoust - author, reasearcher, educator, dancer.
Catherine Frazee - Co-director, Ryerson RBC Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education and former Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission
Rick Hansen - former wheelchair athlete who promotes paraplegic sports
David Lepofsky - prominent disability rights activist, chair of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee
Ravi Malhotra - disability rights activist and a member of the New Democratic Party
Christopher Steel - disability rights activist - artist, art gallery founder
Elizabeth Dixon - disability rights activist - educator, actor, singer
Boris Peterson - disability rights activist - founder of neorealite
Scott Lutes - disability rights activist - filmmaker
Amy Hasbrouck - disability rights activist - lawyer
Ms. Qui - disability rights activist - political candidate

Irish activists[]

Kathy Sinnott - Irish disability rights campaigner and politician; secretary of the Hope Project

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).