Born Deaf, David Buxton is CEO of Action on Disability, previously being CEO of the British Deaf Association, of which he is now Chair. He is also on the board of the European Union of the Deaf. He has been a major influencer with public authorities, governments and the charity sector for 35 years.

David is co-founder of the Liberal Democrats Disability Association, won the 1990 local election as Britain’s first Deaf borough councillor and is the first ever Deaf BSL candidate to stand for parliament, which he has done three times.

After 20 years of fighting for a fair access fund for disabled candidates, David was key to introducing the pilot Access to the Elected Office for Disabled People Fund. The fund is no longer available in the UK, but David continues to fight for its re-instatement.

David has successfully:
• Challenged the government via judicial review on the Access to Work funding cap, leading to a one-third increase.
• Issued a pre-action legal action to the Ministry of Justice on Deaf jurors, culminating in new legislation (April 2022) allowing Deaf people to be jurors.
• Lobbied four political parties to include a BSL Act in their election manifestos; founded and led the BSL Act Now! Campaign, lobbied backbench MPs to introduce a Private Member’s Bill on BSL. Within a year, parliament – unopposed – supported a BSL bill leading to the new BSL Act 2022.

He believes parliament must be more inclusive, embrace diversity and truly represent all communities across the UK.