Nasa Begum

A qualified social worker, produced a number of publications and worked on the needs of Disabled refugees and asylum seekers. She co-wrote the book Reflections with Milliedrette Hill (Begum, N, Hill, M and Stevens, A, 1994).

Milliedrette Hill

A student barrister, freelance writer and an advocate on race and disability. She co-founded Black Disabled People Association and actively spoke out about the experience of Black Disabled People. She co-wrote the book Reflections with Nasa Begum and Andy Stevens (Begum, N, Hill, M and Stevens, A, 1994).

Menghi
Mulchandani

The Chief Executive of Action Disability Kensington and Chelsea for 13 years. She was the first Disabled Person and Woman of Colour to be appointed to lead the organisation. So far she remains the first Disabled Women of Colour to have served as a Chair of the National Centre for Independent Living.

Mary Price

She was born in Barbados and was brought to London in the 1820s by her owners, the Woods. She was the first women to present anti-slavery petition to Parliament for Enslaved African People to gain freedom from slavery.

Barbara Stewart

A poet and community activist. She was also known for her work on disability hate crime.

Julie Jaye Charles

The founder and head of the Equalities National Council organisation advocating on Black Disabled People’s issues. She has contributed to a number of publications on the issues affecting Black Disabled People in Britain.

Eleanor Lisney

A cofounder of Sisters of Frida, British Council Disability Advisory Panel and the web team of the International Network of Disabled Women. She has worked tirelessly with the organisers of the London Women of the World event to ensure Disabled Women have a presence on the panels.

Caroline Nelson

She has been the Chief Executive of Choice in Hackney for over 10 years. The organisation provides advocacy services for local Disabled People. She remains one of the few British Black Disabled Women to head a Disabled People’s Organisation in London.

Saadia Neilson

In the 1990s moved from Morocco to live in England. She is an international trainer on disability issues and human rights. Saadia took part in a number of protests including the ITV Telethon. She worked closely with Milliedrette Hill and also campaigns on other intersectional issues affecting Disabled People.

Sarifa Patel

A community activist and campaigner. She runs the London Borough of Newham Disabled Reps Forum and campaigns against segregated education.

Angela Smith

She actively campaigns on independent living issues and is a committee member of the Race Equality Foundation. She also contributed her story to Reflections book (Begum, N, Hill, M and Stevens, A, 1994).

Deborah Williams

She is a performer, writer, producer and director. She is known for her contribution in the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act in the cultural sector.

Kamran Mallick

The Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK, the only UK wide disabled people’s organisation, as well as trustee of large, vibrant theatre the Lyric Hammersmith and small disability charity Wheels for Wellbeing.

Nabil Shaban

An actor and writer who co-founded Graeae, a professional theatre company for disabled performers. Graeae theatre company has built up a strong reputation for high quality, challenging work that has played to mixed audiences across the country. It has allowed Shaban and fellow members to write, produce and act in a variety of roles that would otherwise be closed to them.

Rev. Calvin
Peterson

He was born with cerebral palsy in 1948 and is the founder of the organisation, Disabled in Action (DIA), that has worked on for over 40 years is the Black church who is committed to developing a new narrative for ‘change’ in the Black community until disability segregation is eradicated in these spaces.

Leroy F. Moore Jr

An African American writer, poet, community activist and feminist who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy founded Krip Hop Nation which focuses on Black disabled issues through music, language and global activism.

Alice Wong

Alice Wong who has spinal muscular atrophy is a research consultant and disability rights activist based in San Francisco. From 2013, for two years, Alice served as a member of the National Council on Disability, to which she was appointed by President Barack Obama. In 2014, on the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, she founded the Disability Visibility Project which works to ‘create, share and amplify disability media and culture’ by collecting historical recordings of interviews with disabled people in the United States.

Emmanuel Ofosu
Yeboah

A Paralympic athlete and activist from Ghana, West Africa, Emmanual was born in 1977 without a right shin bone, which resulted in a severely deformed leg. Spurred on by the death of his mother years later, Emmanual wanted to bring attention to the plight of disabled people. Along the way, he has spoken to disabled children and gives speeches to church-leaders and dignitaries.

Claudia Gordon

The first Female Deaf African American Anti-Discrimination Advocate who is recognized as one of former President Barack Obama’s key advisors for disability issues. She was also the first female deaf African American lawyer to graduate law school and pursue a career devoted to helping individuals with disabilities. Today she works in a senior role at Sprint, a company with many accessibility features that enable people who are deaf to communicate.

Javed Abidi

Javed Abidi was born with spina bifida, Javed was an Indian activist who studied journalism and communication in Ohio. He was instrumental in drafting India’s The Persons with Disabilities Act 1995, ensuring that sometimes forgotten disabilities, such as autism and dyslexia, were included. From 1997 he worked as the director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in India. NCPEDP is a non-profit organisation that aims to bring government, industry, international agencies and the voluntary sector together to empower disabled people.

Haben Girma

A deafblind lawyer who advocates for Disability Rights. She became the first Deafblind person to graduate from law school when she earned her degree from Harvard Law School in 2013. She is a civil rights attorney who advocates for disability rights, a public speaker who travels the country changing people’s perceptions of the disability community in the media and has been featured in Forbes “30 Under 30” and on NBC and NPR.

Harriet Tubman

(1822–1913)

Tubman is an abolitionist known for her work on the Underground Railroad, a remarkable effort to help runaway slaves to flee to safer areas. Less well known is that Ms Tubman suffered from epilepsy as a result of a severe head injury she sustained when she was beaten by her master at age 12. Even though she needed to take many rest breaks, Tubman ventured into the depths of the slave country multiple times, saving many lives.

Tom ‘Blind’ Wiggins

He was born blind (and believe autistic) and was sold into slavery, along with the rest of his family. Despite this, however, Tom had a great talent for perceiving, remembering, and reproducing sounds where he would go on to perform at concerts throughout the Americas and Europe. His extraordinary music has inspired lovers of music worldwide, including Elton John, who composed a song in his honour.

Maya Angelou

The award-winning author, poet, civil rights activist, college professor and screenwriter who wrote a great deal of poetry, along with her memoirs, starting with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Those who have read her work know that her childhood was a traumatic one. At the age of eight, Maya was sexually abused and raped by her mother’s boyfriend; as a result of her trauma, she became mute for five years. (This condition is known as selective mutism.) Dr. Angelou’s writing career, which also included essays, journalism, and drama spanned 50 years.

Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977)

A civil rights activist who was important in efforts to help African Americans register to vote. She suffered kidney damage after having been beaten, a condition that was the source of her famous words, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Johnnie Lacy (1937–2010)

Diagnosed with polio at the age of 19, Lacy and eventually needed a wheelchair to get around. From then on, she became a disability advocate and self-advocate in the struggle to be able to attend university (a right not guaranteed at the time) and for the resources to live independently in the community. Both identities were strongly intertwined.

Muhammad Ali

A champion boxer and a man who fought for racial and social justice his entire life. He acquired Parkinson’s at age 42 and became a role model for people with physical disabilities. What many may not know, however, is that Ali also had dyslexia at a time where researchers did not know much about dyslexia or how to help children who struggle with the disability. Ali was not aware of the fact that he had dyslexia, either, which led to a lack of confidence in his ability as a student.

Simone Biles

An Olympic champion who dominated the sport of gymnastics during the 2016 Rio Olympics having won four consecutive all-around titles and is the first female to do so since the 1970s. She also has competed and won 14 world championship medals. At a young age, Biles was diagnosed with Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and, as a result of her notoriety, has been very vocal regarding her ADHD, many have classified her as a hero, especially those who have endured stigma from the disability.

Harry Belafonte (b. 1927)

A singing sensation better know for his album Calypso and ‘Banana Boat Song.’ Over his musical and drama career, he would go on to four Grammys, a Tony, and an Emmy. What most of his fans do not know is that Harry’s dyslexia became such a source of frustration that he dropped out of high school. However, he has used his cultivated eloquence not only in the arts but also as a political and social activist, along with his advocacy at Understood.org, an organization dedicated to supporting parents of children with learning disabilities.

Wilma Rudolph (1940–1994)

The ‘fastest woman in the world’. Born prematurely she endured several early-childhood illnesses having recovered from infantile paralysis and a loss of strength to her left leg and foot. Despite this, Rudolph went on to become a legend at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, earning her admiration worldwide.

Lois Curtis

Credited as the woman with disabilities fighting for freedom for all. People with intellectual and mental disabilities can thank Lois Curtis for paving the way for them to live in the community receiving the services they need. In what was called “the most important decision for people with disabilities in history,” the Olmstead Decision justified the right for people with disabilities to live independently but would take four years to come into effect including being heard in the Supreme Court.

Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott

She serves as a role model for young women with disabilities following a diagnosis, at at the height of her career when she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, which attacks the thyroid.

Whoopi Goldberg

An actress, comedienne and talk show host known worldwide to her fanbase. However, not as many can recognize her as a person with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a general term for disorders that involves difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but does not affect general intelligence.

Daymond John

A clothing entrepreneur and “Shark Tank” Star who struggled in elementary school, where he was diagnosed with a general “learning disability” without being provided many resources or support. Today, John boasts unimaginable success as a multimillionaire and entrepreneur as the co-founder and CEO of FUBU and a shark on The Shark Tank. John credits his dyslexia with setting him on his path to entrepreneurial success.

Diana Elizabeth Jordan

An award-winning actress, writer, producer and director, is an important figure in the conversation about the inclusivity or lack thereof of people with disabilities in Hollywood. Jordan has cerebral palsy, which mildly affects her speech and gait. She has been acting professionally since she graduated from college. Since beginning her career, Diana has built an impressive list of over 40 credits in theatre, film and television.

Solange Knowles

She shatters the glass ceiling as a woman of colour who also happens to be diagnosed with a disability that affects 10 per cent of the U.S. population: ADHD. Knowles has been outspoken about her ADHD, educating people about her disability. Through her impressive resume that includes music, art, dance and acting, Knowles is recognised as an elite in her industry.

Clarence Page

A highly accomplished journalist. He is a Pulitzer-winning syndicated columnist for the Tribune network, a member of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board, a regular contributor to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and has appeared on The McLaughlin Group, NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show, ABC’s Nightline and BET’s Lead Story. He is also an African American who identifies as having Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), which can affect basic functioning due to hyperactivity and a pattern of inattention. Page has been outspoken about having ADHD and educating people about his disability.