Rosaleen Moriarty-Simmonds Order of the British Empire | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1960 |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Treloar School |
| Alma mater | Cardiff University |
Rosaleen (Rosie) Moriarty-Simmonds OBE (born 1960) is a British businesswoman, artist and disability rights campaigner. She was born without arms or legs after her mother was prescribed thalidomide in pregnancy. [1]
She attended Ysgol Erw'r Delyn, a special school in Penarth, and from age 14 Treloar School in Alton, at that time the only school in the UK to offer an academic education for students with disabilities. [1] She was the first disabled student to enrol at Cardiff University, graduating in 1985 with a BSc degree in psychology. [1] [2]
After graduating, Moriarty-Simmonds worked in the civil service at Companies House for seven years, at Executive Officer level. [1] [3] In 1995 she established RMS Disability Issues Consultancy, which offers training in Disability Issues. [4] She has appeared in many radio and television programmes, starting with an appearance in a television news bulletin at the age of two. [5]
She was one of the leading campaigners for the creation of the Thalidomide Memorial in Cathays Park, Cardiff, to commemorate the survivors of thalidomide and those who fought for justice for them, and made a speech at its unveiling in 2016. [6] [7]
In 2022 she became the High Sheriff of Glamorgan. [8]
She has taken up painting and has been accepted as a student member of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists. [2]
In 2007 she published her autobiography Four Fingers and Thirteen Toes (revised ed 2009 AuthorHouse UK, ISBN 978-1438942995). [9]
She was appointed O.B.E. in the 2015 New Year Honours "For Services to the Equality and Rights of Disabled People". [10]
In 2017 Cardiff University awarded her an Honorary Fellowship, describing her as "a forthright and passionate speaker" who "has worked at the highest level ... to make significant changes in attitudes to disability". [11]
She married Stephen Simmonds, a solicitor, who is also Thalidomide impaired, in 1988. They have one son, born in 1995 after three earlier miscarriages. [1] [12] Her hobbies are photography and acting. [2]
Phocomelia is a congenital condition that involves malformations of human arms and legs which results in a flipper-like appendage. A prominent cause of phocomelia is the mother's use of the drug thalidomide during pregnancy; however, the causes of most cases are to be determined.
Carys Davina Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson,, known as Tanni Grey-Thompson, is a Welsh life peeress, television presenter and former wheelchair racer.
Cathays Park or Cardiff Civic Centre is a civic centre area in the city centre of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, consisting of a number of early 20th century buildings and a central park area, Alexandra Gardens. It includes Edwardian buildings such as the Temple of Peace, City Hall, the National Museum and Gallery of Wales and several buildings belonging to the Cardiff University campus. It also includes Cardiff Crown Court, the administrative headquarters of the Welsh Government, and the more modern Cardiff Central police station. The Pevsner architectural guide to the historic county of Glamorgan judges Cathays Park to be "the finest civic centre in the British Isles". The area falls within the Cathays electoral ward.
Jane Susan Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, is a British disability rights campaigner and a life peer in the House of Lords. She was Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and served as the Chair of the Disability Committee which led on to the EHRC Disability Programme. She was the former Chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). She was a Commissioner at the Disability Rights Commission (DRC).
Sir Percy Edward Thomas OBE was an Anglo-Welsh architect who worked in Wales for the majority of his life. He was twice RIBA president.
Cathay Williams was an American soldier. An African-American woman, she enlisted in the United States Army under the pseudonym William Cathay. Williams became the first female to enlist and the only documented woman to serve in the U.S. Army while posing as a man during the Indian Wars.
Swansea Bay University Health Board (SBUHB) is the local health board of NHS Wales for Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, in the south-west of Wales. Established as Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board (ABMUHB) in 2009, it was renamed and had its boundaries altered on 1 April 2019. In February 2019 it was decided to rename it Swansea Bay University Health Board and to alter the boundary with the Cwm Taf University Health Board.
Eleanor May Simmonds, OBE is a British former Paralympian swimmer who competed in S6 events. She came to national attention when she competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, winning two gold medals for Great Britain. She was the youngest member of the team, at the age of 13.
Treloar School and College is a non-maintained residential and day special school and college for disabled children and young people, aged from 2 to 25 in Holybourne near Alton, Hampshire, UK.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the use of thalidomide in 46 countries by women who were pregnant or who subsequently became pregnant resulted in the "biggest anthropogenic medical disaster ever," with more than 10,000 children born with a range of severe deformities, such as phocomelia, as well as thousands of miscarriages.
Dilys Price was a Welsh educator, parachutist, and model who held the record for the oldest female solo parachute jump at the age of 80. She founded the charity Touch Trust to provide art and creative movement activities.
Sir Alexander John Gordon, CBE was a Welsh architect. Born in Ayr, Scotland, he was brought up and educated in Swansea and Cardiff. After World War II he designed several major buildings in Cardiff and Swansea, and from 1971 to 1973 he served as president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1974 he summarised the needs of new architecture as 'Long life, loose fit, low energy'.
Inspiration porn is the portrayal of people with disabilities as being inspirational to able-bodied people, on the basis of their life circumstances. The term inspiration porn is by analogy with pornography, in that the material is perceived as objectifying disabled people for the benefit or gratification of the able-bodied. Inspiration porn may be seen as a form of ableism. An example of inspiration porn might be a photo of a child with a disability taking part in an ordinary activity, with captions targeted towards able-bodied people such as "your excuse is invalid", "before you quit, try" or "they didn't let their disability stop them".
Mercédes Benegbi is a Canadian disabilities activist who has been recognized for her advocacy for the rights of disabled people. In 2000, she was honored by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and in 2014, she drove a successful initiative to gain support for the survivors of thalidomide. Her efforts resulted in life-time compensation for Canadian "thalidomiders", as well as a special fund for specific medical treatments or modifications to homes and vehicles to accommodate their disabilities.
Millicent Simmonds is an American actress. She is best known for her role in the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place and its 2020 sequel A Quiet Place Part II. Her breakout role was in the 2017 drama film Wonderstruck. For Wonderstruck and A Quiet Place, she received recognition from several film awards organizations.
Anne Borsay was a medical historian. She was appointed as the first Chair of Medical Humanities at Swansea University in 2003, a position she held until her death in 2014. Her academic work explored the history of medical institutions and, later, the role of disabled people in the coal industry in south Wales.
Rosie Jones is a British comedian, writer and actress. After starting her career as a writer on panel shows, she went on to appear as a guest on The Last Leg, 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, QI and Hypothetical. She attended the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo as a roving reporter for The Last Leg.
There She Goes is a British comedy-drama television series created and written by Shaun Pye, and based on his own experiences with his daughter who was born with a chromosomal disorder. The show follows the life of learning-disabled Rosie Yates, along with her parents Emily and Simon, and her older brother Ben. Both series are set in Rosie's present, but the writing features frequent flashbacks to her infancy and pre-school life, when her parents were gradually learning of Rosie's disability.
Uzoamaka Linda Iwobi FLSW is a British-Nigerian solicitor and equalities practitioner. She is the former Specialist Policy Adviser on Equalities to the Welsh Government, an Honorary Fellow at the University of Wales Trinity St David and founder, secretary and former chief executive officer at Race Council Cymru. She is also Vice President of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.
Penelope Elsie Simmonds is a New Zealand politician, Member of Parliament and a Minister in the House of Representatives for the National Party. She previously served as the chief executive of the Southern Institute of Technology. Following the 2023 New Zealand general election, Simmonds assumed the disability issues, environmental, tertiary education and skills, and associate social development and employment portfolios in the Sixth National Government.
 | This biographical article about a United Kingdom activist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This United Kingdom business-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |