Paul Henry Collier (4 February 1964 – 9 March 2010) was an Australian disability activist and the founder of the Dignity for Disability party. Collier was a

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of Motor control, motor and/or Sense, sensory function in the Cervical vertebrae, cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weak ...

, due to serious spinal injuries in a car accident on the way to his twenty-first birthday celebrations. He held a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, and held advisory roles with the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

and for the federal Minister for Disability. He founded the Dignity for Disability party in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, standing as its candidate for the

South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the South Australian House of Assembly, H ...

in 2006 and 2010. He died after a

brain haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

a few weeks before the 2010 election, in which his party gained enough votes for a seat in the council; this was taken by the second candidate on the ticket, Kelly Vincent. In 2013, a scholarship in Collier's name was set up to assist potential leaders with disabilities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Paul 1964 births 2010 deaths Australian disability rights activists Australian politicians with disabilities People with tetraplegia Australian activists with disabilities