A disability-rights activist or disability-rights advocate is someone who works towards the equality of people with disabilities. Such a person is generally considered a member of the disability-rights movement and/or the independent-living movement.
- Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton – commissioner of the British Disability Rights Commission[15]
- Charlie Carr – cofounder of National Council on Independent Living, Boston Center for Independent Living and founder and CEO of The Northeast Independent Living Program in Lawrence, Massachusetts; went on to become Commissioner of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission under Governor Deval Patrick[16]
- Liz Carr – British actress, comedian, broadcaster and international disability rights activist
- Bob Casey, Jr. – United States Senator from Pennsylvania, widely recognized as a leading advocate for people with disabilities expansion of Medicaid home and community-based services[17]
- Mama Cax – American-Haitian model and disabled rights activist
- Judi Chamberlin – American activist, leader, organizer, public speaker and educator in the psychiatric survivors movement; her political activism followed her involuntary confinement in a psychiatric facility in the 1960s;[18][19] author of On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System, a foundational text in the Mad Pride movement[20]
- James I. Charlton – activist and author of Nothing About Us Without Us
- María Soledad Cisternas – Chilean disability rights activist, member of the committee that drafted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and served as the chairperson on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;[21][22] in 2017, was appointed the Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility for the United Nations[23]
- Claudia Cockburn – British activist for transportation accessibility[24]
- Tony Coelho – former congressman from California, primary author and U.S. House sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act[25]
- Rebecca Cokley – Executive Director of the National Council on Disability[26]
- Kitty Cone – disability rights activist and staff member of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
- Lois Curtis – American activist and the lead plaintiff in a U.S. Supreme Court case about unjustified segregation of people with disabilities in healthcare institutions
- Anne Emerman – director of the New York City Mayor's Office for Disabilities (MOPD) during the administration of David Dinkins[30]
- Dominick Evans – filmmaker, activist, founder of #FilmDis; Media & Entertainment advocate for Center for Disability Rights in New York[31]
- Edward Evans – Chairman of the UK Ministry of Health Health Advisory Committee on Handicapped Persons 1949–1960[32]
- Tonya Ingram – brought awareness through her writing to subjects such as chronic illness, organ donation, Lupus, kidney failure, the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on disabled people, mental illness, suicide, depression, and disability rights[46][47][48][49][50]
- Davina Ingrams, 18th Baroness Darcy de Knayth – British Paralympian and Representative peer[51]
- Malvika Iyer – bilateral amputee, disability rights activist, and member of United Nations IANYD's Working Group[52][53][54]
- Corbett O'Toole – disability rights activist and author in Berkeley, California; established the National Disabled Women's Educational Equity Project
- Mary Jane Owen – disability rights activist, philosopher, policy expert and writer who has lived and worked in Washington, D.C. since 1979
- Ali Saberi – member of the City Council of Tehran[88] and one of the highest-paid lawyers in Iran with a fee around $1.7 million[89]
- Yuliia Sachuk – Ukrainian activist for the rights of the disabled people[90]
- Peggy S. Salters – first survivor of electroshock treatment in the United States to win a jury verdict and a large money judgment ($635,177) in compensation for extensive permanent amnesia and cognitive disability caused by the procedure
- Sandra Schnur – director of the New York City Half-fare Program for the Handicapped; wrote an early guide for disabled in the city; had quadriplegia[91][92]
- Judy Castle Scott – blind advocate and activist in the field of vision loss[93]
- Annie Segarra – American YouTuber and intersectional activist[94]
- Nabil Shaban – Jordanian-British actor, journalist, and founder of The Graeae, a theater group which promotes disabled performers[95]
- D. P. Sharma – Indian disability rights activist working for equal opportunity in education, tech enabled education access, and transformation in education and employment policies
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver – lifelong advocate for people with intellectual disabilities who founded Special Olympics International in 1968
- Jim Sinclair – coordinator and founder of Autism Network International, advisor to Syracuse University's Disability Cultural Center
- Satendra Singh – doctor with disability and founder of Enabling Unit[96]
- Max Starkloff (1937–2010) – founded Paraquad, one of the first independent living centers in the United States; advocated for the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990[97][98][99]
- John Franklin Stephens – actor, athlete, and activist with Down syndrome[100]
- Simon Stevens – disability issues consultant known for his high-profile work around disability issues in the UK
- Joni Ericson Tada – evangelical Christian author, radio host, and founder of Joni and Friends, an organization "accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community"[101]
- Sunaura Taylor – artist, writer, and activist[102]
- Jack Thorne – English screenwriter and playwright
- Lauren Tuchman – first blind woman ordained as a rabbi and advocate for disability justice and inclusive Torah[103]
- Susanna van Tonder – Luxembourgish disability-rights activist, patient advocate and blogger with multiple sclerosis
- Lizzie Velásquez – author and public speaker on themes of self-esteem and bullying of young people with disabilities
- Henry Viscardi Jr. – American disability-rights activist; advisor to eight US presidents on disability matters
- Frieda Zames – mathematics professor, writer and advocate for access to all aspects of public life, especially transportation; as an official of Disabled in Action, campaigned for wheelchair access on New York City buses, ferries and taxis and buildings like the Empire State Building; with her sister, Zames, wrote the book, The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation
- Maysoon Zayid – Palestinian actress, comedian, and disability rights activist known for her Ted Talk, "I've Got 99 Problems...Palsy is Just One"
- Hale Zukas – architectural and transportation barriers consultant, known for his pioneering work in Berkeley, California; lobbied for the creation and adoption of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
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Carr, Charles. "Charles Carr". The Disability Rights And Independent Living Movement. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
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