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Revision as of 21:47, 17 February 2007 by Kittybrewster (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell DBE is a Commissioner of the Disability Rights Commission and of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR). She also serves as Chair of the Disability Committee which will lead on the CEHR Disability Programme. She was the former Chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence. During the 1990s, she established the National Centre for Independent Living. She is an active leader in the social care field and a campaigner and adviser for disability reforms.
She was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a so-called "terminal" condition. She cannot lift her head from the pillow unaided and needs a ventilator to help her breathe at night. She uses a powered wheelchair and has a computer on which she types with one finger. She has a high-powered and fulfilling job as the head of a major national organisation.
Jane is primarily known for her national and international work for disabled people's civil and human rights. This, as well as her other activities, led to her appointment as a commissioner at the Disability Rights Commission. In 1996, she co-founded and directed the National Centre for Independent Living (NCIL), where she worked for six years before being appointed by the Minister for Social Care to chair SCIE.
As chair at the British Council of Disabled People and co-director at NCIL, Jane saw these organisations through pioneering work in the field of independent living, civil rights, peer counselling and equal opportunities. In 1996 she co-authored a book called Disability Politics and was recognised for her work in the Queen's 2001 birthday honours. In 2003, Jane was awarded an honorary doctorate in law from Bristol University and another in social sciences from Sheffield Hallam University. Currently, Jane is exploring the notion of a human rights perspective of social care.
She was made a life peer (Crossbencher) February 2007.