Award-winning activist named UK’s most influential disabled person - see list
Award-winning disability activist, Dr Shani Dhanda has been named Britain’s most influential disabled person in Disability Power 100 list, 2023.
The Shaw Trust Foundation (MUST) list recognises and celebrates people within the disabled community over a wide range of categories who are working to improve the representation and quality of life of those living with disabilities.
And named in this year’s prestigious top 100 are Mirror columnists, Anna Morell from leading charity Disability Rights UK and author of our Dis Life column, and Rachel Charlton-Dailey, founding editor the the Unwritten, who guest edited the Mirror’s Disabled Britain: Doing It For Ourselves series.
Sara Allen from Shaw Trust, the charity which curated the Disability Power 100 believes the list is more important than ever: “Our mission is to help people into good work. The sort of work we all want to do, but we know that if you are disabled you have fewer opportunities for good work – whether that is because workplaces are inaccessible, no flexibility in the hours or shift patterns, or simply because there is a complex online application form.
Victoria Jenkins (Deb Burrows)
Pam Duncan-Glancy (Getty Images)"A fifth of the UK’s population has a disability or impairment, however, there is very little recognition of successful and influential disabled people. Disabled people are more likely to be unemployed, and the gap is widening, and until we change the public perception of disability, to recognise strong, successful, influential people who are leaders in their field, this gap will continue.”
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Here are the top 10
1 Dr Shani Dhanda
Shani is an award winning disability activist, and a regular on TV’s Loose Women and Rip Off Britain. She founded the Asian Disability Network which works to reduce the heightened stigma that exists within Asian communities around disability.
She also helped organise the first ever Asian Woman Festival and created the brand new Diversability discount card which aims to help disabled people, who on average are forced to spend more a month than able bodied people, save money day to day.
Shani was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Wolverhampton in September and continues to speak out about her own experience living with Brittle Bone disease on stages across the globe whilse advocating tirelessly for disabled people in a number of key areas, including accessibility, right to work, cost of living and fashion.
Rosie Jones2. Victoria Jenkins Victoria is a pioneer in the campaign for disability inclusive fashion and the founder of the hugely successful Unhidden, a leading clothing brand that caters for those with disabilities and medical conditions.
Acquiring a disability in her 20s, the award-winning garment technologist and designer who has worked with a number of huge household brands over her 15 year career, was inspired to start her own company after a chance encounter with a cancer patient who made her realise fashion is not yet inclusive enough. She has also authored a book, entitled ‘The Little Book of Ableisms’.
3. Rosie Jones Writer, comedian and actress, Rosie started her career writing behind the scenes for comedy shows such as The Last Leg and 8 Out of Ten Cats but now shares her experiences living with cerebral palsy as a television presenter and documentarian.
The stand-up comedian has also performed multiple times at the Edinburgh Fringe festival and uses her sense of humour to draw attention to inequalities and discrimination she faces as a disabled person. She is also a podcast host and authored a children’s book in 2019 called ‘The Amazing Edie Eckhart’ about an 11-year-old girl with cerebral palsy.
Professor Jason Arday4. Professor Jason Arday
'Disabled people are too often falling off the radar and it's costing lives'
Diagnosed with autism as a young boy, Jason only learned to read and write when he was 18. Earlier this year, he became Cambridge University’s youngest ever black professor, joining only five other black professors who work in the institution. Once told he would require lifelong support, he first qualified as a PE teacher and later earned two master’s degrees and a PHD in educational studies. He now holds one of the most prestigious professorship posts in one of the world’s leading universities and aims to inspire other people from under-represented backgrounds into higher education.
Amy Francis-Smith (Birmingham Post)
John McFall (Getty Images)5. Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP, politics
Becoming the first permanent wheelchair user ever elected to the Scottish Parliament, Pam, has represented the Glasgow region since 2021. After being denied access to the vote count of the very election she was running for due to the venue’s inaccessibility, she received widespread support by highlighting the barriers disabled parliamentary candidates face. As the Scottish Labour shadow secretary for Education and Skills, she has advocated for adequate education and support for children with her Young Disabled People’s Transition to Adulthood Bill.
6. Amy Francis-Smith RIBA, science and engineering
Amy is an architect and advocate for inclusive design, passionate about ensuring people with disabilities are provided with appropriate housing and accommodation. Vice President of the Birmingham Architectural Association, the advisor lives with a number of chronic illnesses and disabilities, including Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Crohn’s, and a hearing impairment and has campaigned for legislative change to improve access regulations for buildings.
She has worked with Architectural schools and organisations across the country, including the Royal Institute of British Architects, to bring more disabled people into the industry and educate students about social responsibility.
Simon Sansome (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)7. John McFall, sport
Achieving glittering success as a para-athlete, John competed in his first running race just four years after being fitted with a prosthesis after losing his leg in an motorcycle accident. Going on to compete across the globe, including winning Bronze in the 100 metres (T42) at the Summer Paralympics in Beijing in 2008, he has now been named as the first ever ‘parastronaut’ by the European Space Agency.
Once labelled as one of the fastest men in the world, he will now travel to space in the near future to take part in a feasibility study on disabled astronauts. He is also a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and is currently practising as a Trauma and Orthopaedic Specialist Registrar.
Celestine Fraser8. Celestine Fraser, media and publishing
Celestine is a writer, filmmaker and the founder of Just Copy, a disability media company dedicated to helping improve communication about disability and cultural issues. An award winning film producer, she created two films with the BBC and BFI, ‘ill, actually’ and ‘BETTER’, which explore young disabled people and their grapple with identity and is now a member of the BFI Disability Advisory Screen Group and Press Reset campaign which aims to increase and better the representation of disability and disabled people in film and on TV.
Martin Hibbert (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)9. Simon Sansome, digital and technology
Forced to retire at just 32 when a surgery gone-wrong left Simon paralysed from the waist down, he experienced discrimination for the first time when he and his wife were barred from entering a restaurant with no disabled access.
Angered but inspired by the incident, the advocate started a facebook group, Ability Access where he encouraged others with disabilities to share their own experiences in solidarity and the page grew to global audiences. In its first year, the group won the Jesse Jackson Prize and now reaches over 20 million people a month. Simon now has a successful blog and podcast, as well as writing for a number of TV projects.
10. Martin Hibbert, community advocate
Martin, and his daughter Eve, then aged 14, were just six metres away from the suicide bomber when he detonated his explosive in Manchester Arena after an Ariana Granda concert in 2016, killing 22 people. Martin’s spinal cord was severed in the blast but he has since worked tirelessly to challenge negative perceptions of disability, while advocating for the destruction of barriers that stop disabled people leading fulfilled lives.
Last year, he successfully climbed Kilimanjaro in a specially adapted wheelchair, raising over £850,000 for the Spinal Injuries Association and is now part of the government department’s Disability Perceptions Communications Campaign.
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