The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all people with disabilities.
Independent living (IL), as seen by its advocates, is a philosophy, a way of looking at society and disability, and a worldwide movement of disabled people working for equal opportunities, self-determination, and self-respect. In the context of eldercare, independent living is seen as a step in the continuum of care, with assisted living being the next step.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. It has been observed with varying degrees of success around the planet. The observance of the Day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. It was originally called "International Day of Disabled Persons" until 2007. Each year the day focuses on a different issue.
Lex Frieden is an American educator, researcher, disability policy expert and disability rights activist. Frieden has been called "a chief architect of the Americans with Disabilities Act." He is also regarded as a founder and leader of the independent living movement by people with disabilities in the U.S.
Judith Ellen Heumann was an American disability rights activist, known as the "Mother of the Disability Rights Movement". She was recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community. Heumann was a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities. Her work with governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profits, and various other disability interest groups, produced significant contributions since the 1970s to the development of human rights legislation and policies benefiting children and adults with disabilities. Through her work in the World Bank and the State Department, Heumann led the mainstreaming of disability rights into international development. Her contributions extended the international reach of the independent living movement.
Disabled Peoples' International (DPI) is a cross disability, consumer controlled international non-governmental organization (INGO) headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and with regional offices in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and North America and the Caribbean. DPI is a network of national organizations or assemblies of disabled people, established in 1980–81 to promote the human rights of disabled people through full participation, equalization of opportunity and development. DPI assists organisations in over 152 nations with the day to day issues of helping disabled people. They also host assemblies and symposiums across the world with their different national branches.
Mary Jane McKeown Owen was a disability rights activist, philosopher, policy expert and writer who lived and worked in Washington, D.C. from 1979 – 2019.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the convention are required to promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy full equality under the law. The Convention serves as a major catalyst in the global disability rights movement enabling a shift from viewing persons with disabilities as objects of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing them as full and equal members of society, with human rights. The convention was the first U.N. human rights treaty of the twenty-first century.
Leonard Cheshire is a major health and welfare charity working in the United Kingdom and running development projects around the world. It was founded in 1948 by Royal Air Force officer Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC.
Max Starkloff was a disability rights activist. Starkloff became disabled in a car accident in 1959 and subsequently co-founded three organizations.
Corbett O'Toole is a disability rights activist. She had polio as a child. She ran the Disabled Women's Coalition office with Lynn Witt in the 1970s. She worked as a staff member at the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley from 1973 to 1976, and as a staff member for the Disability Rights and Education Fund (DREDF) from 1980 to 1983.
Disability affects many people in Zimbabwe in both rural and urban areas. In spite of services provided by the government, philanthropists and welfare agencies, people with disabilities and their families often face several barriers. Philanthropist, Jairos Jiri, started services for people with disability in Zimbabwe in the 1940s. He is regarded as the father or founder of disability work in Zimbabwe.
Audrey Aanes is sometimes referred to as Mother of the Independent Living Movement in Alaska. Aanes received both a Bachelors and Master's in Special Education from the University of Northern Colorado following spending two years in the Peace Corps. Her other career focus was in the physical disability field. She founded the community, Access Alaska, which allows people with physical disabilities to live independently.
Marilyn E. Saviola was an American disability rights activist, executive director of the Center for the Independence of the Disabled in New York from 1983 to 1999, and vice president of Independence Care System after 2000. Saviola, a polio survivor from Manhattan, New York, is known nationally within the disability rights movement for her advocacy for people with disabilities and had accepted many awards and honors for her work.
Rachel Mary Rosalind Hurst CBE is a British activist and former director of Disability Awareness in Action (DAA), an international network working on disability and human rights.
There are around 2,800,000 people with a disability in Chile. For the most part, citizens of Chile largely have a positive view of people with disabilities, though there is still discrimination in employment and other areas based on misconceptions about disability. The country largely uses a social model of disability in its approach to inclusive policies and laws regarding people with disability. Chile ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability in 2008 and has passed several laws which are intended to provide rights and inclusion for people with disabilities. In 2010, Chile created the National Disability Service in order to coordinate policies regarding people with disabilities. Accessibility in Santiago is generally very good and the national parks of Chile also work to provide accessibility in natural areas owned by the state.
Paul Darke CF is a British academic, artist, disability rights activist and whistleblower. Darke is an expert on disability in film and politics.
Sylvia Walker was a disability rights activist and professor with the School of Education at Howard University.
Margaret Ann "Peg" Nosek was an American academic and disability rights activist based in Houston, Texas.