Interview: Dr Philippa Russell CBE, Commissioner, Disability Rights Commission - Disability and success

Witnessing how disabled African children were able to get on with their lives, compared to the prejudice in Britain, gave her the determination to act on the words of a pediatrician, who said: "If you don't like something, do something about it."

She did. More than 30 years later, this mother of three has worked on every piece of special educational needs legislation in the past two decades. Russell received a standing ovation when she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Sure Start minister Baroness Ashton at 4Children's Childcare Stars Awards (News, 14-21 July).

One of her most valued achievements, she says, was campaigning with Mencap and other parents against the view that children with a learning disability were "uneducable". Their effort resulted in the Education (Handicapped Children) Act 1970, which gave all disabled children the right to education.