Disability campaigner Roy Webb dies

The disability rights campaigner Roy Webb has died at the age of 58.

Webb had been head of policy at the National Centre for Independent Living, where he had most recently co-ordinated a campaign to support the Independent Living Bill.

Webb, who had multiple sclerosis and was wheelchair bound, died in hospital after a short illness.  Webb began his career campaigning for disability rights in the 1980s, when he worked as a welfare rights officer for Southwark council in London.

He joined the NCIL in 2003 and had been a prominent campaigner for the Disability Rights Act.

Sue Bott, director of NCIL said: “The way in which he used his experiences as a disabled person in a positive way was inspiration to us all. His death is a great loss, not just to NCIL but to the wider disability movement.”

Bruce Calderwood, director of the Office for Disability Issues, said that Webb was a “great champion for independent living” who had helped the government “deliver real change for disabled people”.