Sylvia Walker

Sylvia Walker (July 18, 1937 – February 6, 2004) was a disability rights activist and professor with the School of Education at Howard University.

Born in New York City as a blind African American woman, Walker experienced ableism in her early education and worked to combat this discrimination in her professional career. Walker established the Howard University Centre for Disability and Socioeconomic Policy Studies, which is currently known as the Centre for the Study of Handicapped Children and Youth. Walker oversaw the Howard University Research and Training Centre (HURTC), which specialised in preparing low-income, disabled African American students for future employment, while she was at Howard. She also served as the department of psychoeducational studies chairman.

In 1995, Walker cofounded the American Association of People with Disabilities

Early life Walker grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, a then-predominantly white neighbourhood in New York City. Walker was adopted in early infancy and had no connection with her birth mother but described her adoptive mother as her "dominant nurturing influence" in her life. She described her research in Ghana as "combining [her] specialization in administration and the education of persons with disabilities with [her] knowledge of comparative and international education". Unlike the federally funded HUTRC, Walker received the Keeper of the Flame Award from the NAACP in honor of her work with black disabled youth. Walker died on February 6, 2004, in New York City due to health complications.