MBE award for a first-class citizen (From Penarth Times)

MBE award for a first-class citizen

DEDICATED Penarth campaigner Jacqueline James couldn't believe it when she found out she had been awarded an MBE.

Yet the 48-year-old, from Grove Terrace, had definitely been included in the New Years Honours - for services to disabled people in Wales, Europe, Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Mrs James got involved in disability issues nearly 20 years ago, after suffering a stroke at the age of 29.

Following her stroke, she had to use a wheelchair. Living in London as a psychiatric social worker at the time, she said she found herself in a world which treated disabled people as "second-class citizens".

She said: "I saw what was happening to disabled people because it happened to me. I just couldn't go anywhere. I decided to do something about it and that's where it began."

Mrs James's journey in fighting for disabled people's rights has seen her travelling far and wide, working for two years in Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia on behalf of Oxfam.

There she worked with local disabled women, helping them set up groups. She returned in 1998.

She is now on the board of Disability Wales.

Last year, in conjunction with the government's Department for International Development, she brought a group of 25 disabled Russians to have a look at disabled facilities in Penarth.

Of her MBE, Mrs James said: "I was in disbelief. My husband Max opened the letter and said 'There's a letter for you from the Prime Minister'. I said, 'what have I done wrong?'

"It then had to go to the Queen for approval. I feel honoured by it. I work for disabled people because I think it's the right thing to do."