However, the memorial faced serious criticism from disabled activists.

To the Editor: You say that disabled activists "castigate Christopher Reeve for his campaign for a cure for spinal injury" (Week in Review, June 1).

If disabled political activists and disabled artists see little point in supporting each other we can be sure that progress towards equal rights has not yet moved beyond the efforts of individuals to escape their own personal restrictions.

The disabled political activist is likely to be locked into pressure-group politics, escaping a passive disabled lifestyle by becoming the active spokesperson for others, who continue in their passive and dependent lives.

Victor (Vic) Berel Finkelstein (25 January 1938 - 30 November 2011) was a disabled activist and writer.

In between, he fought his way into the University of California at Berkeley and, with other severely disabled activists, helped set in motion the disability rights movement, which is now challenging the gulag's right to exist.

They cannot talk about the fight disabled activists have on their hands, without bringing attention to the fact that Labour pioneered the policies doing teh most damage.

A handmade campaign against welfare cuts launched by a tiny band of disabled activists took the social media world by storm.

To the Editor: Beth Guarino's assertion (letter, June 6) that the "militant stance" of disabled activists "is directly related to their negative feelings about themselves" makes no sense.