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.

A

Javed Abidi – director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in India Abia Akram – disability rights activist from Pakistan; founder of the National Forum of Women with Disabilities in Pakistan; prominent figure in the disability rights movement in the country, as well as in Asia and the Pacific; named one of the BBC's 100 Women in 2021 Ola Abu Alghaib – disability activist from Palestine, focusses on inclusion, gender and disability rights Hiljmnijeta Apuk – founding director of the Little People of Kosovo Fatima al-Aqel – opened a school for blind women in Yemen in 1995 Keith Armstrong (activist) – campaigned for transport and housing rights and photographed disability rights protests.

B

Mel Baggs – autism rights activist and blogger Safiya al Bahlani – Omani artist, graphic designer, disability rights activist, and motivational speaker Jamala al-Baidhani – created the Al-Tahadi Association for Disabled Females, the first group in Yemen devoted to helping girls with disabilities Julia Bascom – autistic rights activist and former executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network Andrew Batavia – ADA regulations drafter, co-founder of AUTONOMY, Inc.DeJong Gerben Obituary: Andrew I Batavia The Lancet 1 November 2003, 1505Goodman Kenneth The Case of Terri Schiavo: Ethics, Politics, and Death in the 21st Century Oxford University Press, 2010, p 181 Giselle Bellas – Cuban-American singer-songwriter; Alzheimer's disease advocate Sister Sponsa Beltran – worked with children and people with disabilities in Liberia Dana Bolles – spaceflight engineer and advocate for those with disabilities in STEM Shahar Botzer – Israeli activist who promoted a law to provide equal right to education for children with disabilities Tiffany Brar – founder of Jyothirgamaya Foundation, a not for profit NGO for visually impaired Gabriela Brimmer – had cerebral palsy; life chronicled in the American-Mexican drama film Gaby: A True Story (1987), directed by Luis Mandoki Marca Bristo – cofounded the (American) National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) with Max Starkloff and Charlie Carr Ly Xīnzhèn M. Zhǎngsūn Brown – autistic activist and writer Sheletta Brundidge – children's author and autism advocate

C

Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton – commissioner of the British Disability Rights Commission 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 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 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; author of On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System, a foundational text in the Mad Pride movement 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; in 2017, was appointed the Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility for the United Nations Claudia Cockburn – British activist for transportation accessibility Tony Coelho – former congressman from California, primary author and U.S. House sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act Rebecca Cokley – Executive Director of the National Council on Disability Kitty Cone – disability rights activist and staff member of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund Merry Cross – Founding member of Liberation Network of People with Disabilities and member of Disabled People Against Cuts 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

D

Andrea Dalzell – American nurse and disability rights activist Paul Darke – British academic and international disability rights activist Justin Whitlock Dart Jr. – co-founder of the American Association of People with Disabilities Lilian Dibo Eyong – Cameroonian model, disability rights activist, women's rights advocate, mental health advocate and educator. Nyle DiMarco – activist and spokesperson for LEAD-K, 'Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids' campaign for American Sign Language and English in education setting Rich Donovan – economist and founder of the Return On Disability Index Theresa Ducharme – founder of the disabled-rights advocacy group People in Equal Participation Inc. in 1981; the organization's chair for many years thereafter"Disabled Want Their Say at Appeal", Winnipeg Free Press. 3 January 1995. April Dunn – helped pass Act 833 in Louisiana which helped provide alternatives to graduation for students who cannot pass the standardized tests

E

Anne Emerman – director of the New York City Mayor's Office for Disabilities (MOPD) during the administration of David Dinkins Dominick Evans – filmmaker, activist, founder of #FilmDis; Media & Entertainment advocate for Center for Disability Rights in New York Edward Evans – Chairman of the UK Ministry of Health Health Advisory Committee on Handicapped Persons 1949–1960

F

Fred Fay – American advocate for disabled persons Chai Feldblum – lead attorney on legal team that drafted the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990Obama Nominates Chai Feldblum, LGBT/Equality Scholar, to EEOC Post , September 14, 2009. Accessed October 11, 2009. Julie Fernandez – actress with osteogenesis imperfecta; founded The Disability Foundation; active in presentation of disabled people Vic Finkelstein – South African born activist and academic, pioneer of the social model of disability Catherine Frazee – co-director of Ryerson University's Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education Lex Frieden – Chairman of the National Council on Disability 2002–2006; key developer of the Americans with Disabilities Act Judy Fryd – founded group in 1946 for parents of children with a learning disability; the group later became Mencap

G

Haben Girma – first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School Marilyn Golden – disability transportation activist Miro Griffiths – disabled academic and activist Chen Guangcheng – Chinese civil rights activist

H

Rick Hansen – former Canadian Paralympian; raised $20 million for spinal cord research, rehabilitation and wheelchair sports by travelling by wheelchair through 34 countries Adam Harris – autistic founder of AsIAm Laura Hershey – protested MDA Labor Day Telethon; a feminist born with a form of muscular dystrophy Judith Heumann – wheelchair user who co-founded the World Institute on Disability; served as its co-director 1983–1993; became the Special Advisor for International Disability Rights at the U.S. Department of State Paul Hunt (activist) – was an early disability rights activist and leader of disabled people's campaigns in the UK against residential institutions and for independent living. Edited a seminal volume on disability, Stigma: The Experience of Disability.

I

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 Davina Ingrams, 18th Baroness Darcy de Knayth – British Paralympian and Representative peer Malvika Iyer – bilateral amputee, disability rights activist, and member of United Nations IANYD's Working Group

J

Casar Jacobson – Norwegian-Canadian autism, disability, and gender equality rights activist; UN Women Youth Champion; former Miss Canada (2013); bilaterally deaf and uses American Sign Language Tommy Jessop - British actor and activist with Down syndrome, who was the main spokesperson behind the campaign for the Down Syndrome Act 2022 Harriet McBryde Johnson – a New Mobility "Person of the Year"; disability-rights attorney and anti-euthanasia activist I. King Jordan – first deaf president of Gallaudet University

K

Helen Keller – American deaf-blind political activist, writer, and lecturer Dom Kelly – American disability rights and justice activist, founder of New Disabled South, musician, writer, and organizer with cerebral palsy John D. Kemp – American disability-rights activist; President and CEO of Viscardi center and the Henry Viscardi School Abha Khetarpal – Indian disability-rights activist, founder of Cross The Hurdles, the first-ever counselling/educational resource website and mobile application designed exclusively for people with disabilities Lizzie Kiama – Kenyan founder of This-Ability Trust Bonnie Sherr Klein – directed the documentary film Shameless: The ART of Disability (2006) Raul Krauthausen – German disability rights activist

L

Frank Larkin – activist who, inspired by the frustrations of living with spina bifida, sought to improve the lives of others with the condition; attended the European Parliament and other continental-level events Paul K. Longmore – American history professor and activist; instrumental in the establishment of disability studies as an academic discipline, and in changes to Social Security that granted people with disabilities more rights Carrie Ann Lucas – disability rights attorney

M

Neil Marcus – actor and playwright active in the development of disability culture Robert Martin – activist for independent living for disabled people Noor Al Mazroei – chef and disability rights activist from Qatar Ron McCallum – member of Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; has been on the National People with Disabilities and Carers Council; Chair of Radio for the Print Handicapped of New South Wales Co-operative Ltd.; the first totally blind person to have been appointed to a full professorship at an Australian university Anne McDonald – activist for independent living for disabled people Kathryn McGee – American activist who founded the National Association for Down Syndrome and the National Down Syndrome Congress; her daughter Tricia had Down syndrome Eva Middleton – Belizean advocate for disability rights and involved with the Belize Assembly for Persons with Diverse Abilities (BAPDA) Jillian Mercado- model Stacey Milbern – American activist who helped establish the disability justice movement Paul Steven Miller – American civil rights lawyer, activist and law professor, was a Commissioner of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and author of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act Leroy F. Moore Jr. – African American writer, poet, community activist, feminist, and the founder of Krip-Hop Alf Morris – introduced the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act and first "Minister for the Disabled" in Great Britain or anywhere else

N

Sainimili Naivalu – Fijian table tennis medallist and activist