Our Top 12 Most Inspiring People of 2025
From powerful advocacy to ground-breaking creativity, there have been so many inspiring individuals achieving amazing things in 2025. Here are 12 people, or groups of people, in the public eye who have inspired us over the past year.
Photo credit – ActionSpace
Nnena Kalu – Artist
Nnena Kalu has won this year’s Turner Prize, the UK’s most high-profile art award, making history as the first artist with a learning disability to win. Nnena’s “bold and compelling” sculptures and drawings mark an important moment for disabled people in the arts world. Nnena works with ActionSpace, a charity which supports people with learning disabilities in London to access the support they need to grow as artists. Her facilitator and studio manager, Charlotte Hollinshead, made a speech on her behalf, in which she said that Nnena “has faced an incredible amount of discrimination” and hoped that award would help “smash the prejudice away.”
Photo credit – Wikimedia Commons
Paula McGowan – Activist
Paula McGowan has dedicated her life to campaigning for equality and justice for people with a learning disability and autistic people after her son Oliver died due to a severe, avoidable reaction to antipsychotic medication, despite his family’s warnings. Paula began fighting to make healthcare better for people with a learning disability and autistic people, and is a huge advocate for STOMP (Stopping overmedicating people with a learning disability, autism or both). She also rolled out ‘Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism’ in partnership with the NHS and Skills for Care, which all health and social care staff must complete.
Families of Jessica Brady and Martha Mills
Photo credit – Cedar Trust
Jessica Brady visited the GP 20 times over five months with no answers to her pain and illness. She sought out private healthcare, where she was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma. There was no treatment for the cancer at such a late stage, and she sadly passed away three weeks later. Her preventable death has led to the development and implementation of ‘Jess’s Rule’, an initiative that asks GPs to ‘think again’ if, after three appointments, they are unable to diagnose or help a patient who is deteriorating.
Jess’s mum, who campaigned for her daughter’s legacy to live on in bettering healthcare outcomes, said: “In the bleak weeks following the loss of Jess, I realised it was my duty to continue what she had started. It has taken nearly five years to bring about Jess’s Rule. I would like to dedicate this initiative to all the young people who have been diagnosed too late.”
Photo Credit – NHS
Martha Mills passed away in 2021 after developing sepsis in hospital, where she had been admitted with a pancreatic injury from falling off her bike. Her family voiced concerns about her deteriorating condition which were ignored, and 13-year-old Martha sadly died. In her memory, her family and campaigners fought to introduce an initiative where families can seek an urgent second opinion and clinicians must record daily insights into a patient’s health from family members. This initiative was passed on what would have been Martha’s 18th birthday, and has been rolled out across all sites providing acute inpatient services.
Photo credit – Wikimedia Commons
Professor Christian Happi – Professor and Biologist
Prof. Christian Happi has dedicated his life to helping people and improving conditions and healthcare for people across the globe. He is best known for leading the team of scientists that helped identify a single infection from an animal reservoir to a human in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. His research on infectious diseases, including malaria, Lassa fever, Ebola virus, HIV and Covid-19, has led to better outcomes for people with over 230 peer-reviewed articles published. Additionally, Dr Happi collaborated on the SENTINEL project, which is an early warning and response system aimed at disease surveillance and builds health system resilience in West Africa. Dr Happi was described as a ‘force of nature’ in TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025.
Photo credit – Wikimedia Commons
Shon Faye – Writer and activist
This year Shon released her second book ‘Love in Exile’, a memoir about her experiences with love in a world shaped by societal expectations and capitalism from her perspective as a trans woman. She wrote and directed the recent Glamour UK edition ‘Women of the Year’ which featured trans women in the UK and she continues to use her platform to uplift the voices of trans people and fights for trans rights from a very visible position. In Elle magazine in 2025, she said: “I always say that trans people are highly optimistic people. To survive what we do, and to go against the grain of society, requires hope: when a trans person is dysphoric and considering transitioning, they’re hoping for a better life.”
Photo from the ‘We Need to Talk’ podcast on YouTube
Ellie Goldstein – Model and Actress
Ellie is the first model with Down’s syndrome to feature on the cover of Vogue and appear in a campaign for Gucci, and this year featured on Strictly Come Dancing too. She was also nominated for a Children’s and Family Emmy Award for her work on the BBC drama Malory Towers. She has been a huge inspiration to many, providing much needed representation for disabled people on a big platform and continues to carve a space for disabled representation more widely across all forms of media.
Photo credit – Wikimedia Commons
Percival Everett – Novelist
Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Percival Everett has long written exemplary novels with complex characters and themes, and his latest novel ‘James’ is no different. The reimagining of Huckleberry Finn refocuses the narrative on Jim, a runaway slave who is Finn’s companion throughout the novel. Everett gives Jim agency, highlighting his intelligence and how he has to keep it under wraps to prevent white people from punishing him for his education and enlightenment. ‘James’ won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Photo Credit – Rachael Maskell MP
Rachael Maskell – MP for York Central
Long-standing MP for York, Rachael Maskell bravely stood against the Government’s proposed amendments to the Welfare Bill which would have left vulnerable people even worse off. She wanted to use her platform to stand up for disability rights and called the proposals “Dickensian”. Maskell led a rebellion against the proposals, opposing her own party and was temporarily suspended for it. After the suspension was lifted later in the year, Maskell told the BBC that her experience would not stop her from speaking up in the future, adding: “All I did was speak up for disabled people and especially people in poverty.”
Photo credit – Wikimedia Commons
Rosie Jones – Actor, Comedian and Author
Rosie Jones has been on TV and radio and writing behind the scenes for a number of years. This year, her TV show ‘Pushers’ was released, which follows the story of a young woman with cerebral palsy who uses society’s assumptions around disability to evade detection of her criminal activity. The show features people with physical disabilities and neurodivergent people, and cast people with disabilities to play those roles. Rosie Jones continues to platform representation with a humorous slant.
Photo credit – @CheethamswithDreams
Cheethams with Dreams – Influencers
Becky and Hannah Cheetham in Greater Manchester wrote a list of dreams they wanted to achieve in 2015, and this has become the inspirational account ‘Cheethams with Dreams’, which now spans across social media with millions of followers. Hannah has cerebral palsy and Becky is one of her primary carers. Together they spend their time doing incredible things and using their platform to educate, inspire and encourage people to also live out their dreams too. From attending award ceremonies, enjoying accessible holidays, learning the drums or playing with dog Frankie, we are given an insight into their lives and their hilarious sense of humour. Seeing real representation, from the tough days to the great ones, is truly inspiring to see.
Photo credit – Disability Talk
Frances Ryan – Journalist and Activist
Guardian columnist and journalist Frances uses her voice and platform to fight against reforms which would harm disabled people. She wrote extensively about a former care home housing asylum seekers with disabilities, that was unfit for purpose and ‘Britain’s hidden shame’. Her books ‘Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People’ and ‘Who Wants Normal? The Disabled Girls’ Guide to Life’ also explore disability, society, and what it means to be disabled in Britain today.
Photo credit – X/@Drew_Hyndman
Drew Hyndman – Journalist and Producer
Drew joined the BBC via the Extend Scheme (a positive action employment programme for people who are deaf, disabled or neurodivergent), and immediately made headway in highlighting stories of disabled people. He champions disabled and neurodivergent people in his work, including producing a series of the ‘1800 Seconds on Autism’ podcast – the first time a BBC programme has been made by an all autistic team.
Who are your most inspiring people of 2025? Let us know at communications@creativesupport.co.uk!