Tom Shakespeare
Academic and Broadcaster
Tom Shakespeare is a campaigner for disability rights, a writer on disability, genetics and bio-ethics and Professor of Disability Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
He has worked as a research fellow at both Newcastle University and Leeds University, and has co-authored or edited a number of books and reports including The Sexual Politics of Disability, Disability Rights and Wrongs and Arguing About Disability. He has worked for the World Health Organization in Geneva where he was coauthor and coeditor of the 2011 World Report on Disability. He served as a member of the Arts Council of England between 2003 and 2008.
In his research and advocacy roles Tom has travelled widely and, as a wheelchair user, has met various barriers, both natural and man-made, but says that he has usually found a solution through goodwill and negotiation – and a bit of crawling. As an Ambassador he plans to support Tourism for All in any way that he can to make accessible tourism and travel better. Tom was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to disability research.