The Right Honourable
The Baron Low of Dalston
CBE
Official portrait, 2018
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
13 June 2006
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born
Colin Mackenzie Low

(1942-09-23) 23 September 1942
Edinburgh, Scotland
Political partyNone (crossbencher)
Alma materWorcester College for the Blind
The Queen's College, Oxford
University of Cambridge

Colin Mackenzie Low, Baron Low of Dalston, CBE (born 23 September 1942) is a British politician, law scholar and member of the House of Lords.

Early life

Low was born in Edinburgh and has been blind since the age of three. He was educated at what is now New College Worcester, at The Queen's College, Oxford (BA) and at Cambridge University (Diploma in Criminology).

Career

Low was a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Leeds from 1968 until 1984 and later held a research post at City University London until 2000.[1]

He is a vice-president of the RNIB and former chairman. He was also President of the European Blind Union[2] (EBU) for 8 years from 2003. He is a board member of the Snowdon Trust, founded by the Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, which provides grants and scholarships for students with disabilities.[3]

Low is the Immediate Past President of the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment.[4]

Honours

Low was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to the RNIB and disabled peoples' rights.[5] On 13 June 2006, he was created a life peer as Baron Low of Dalston, of Dalston in the London Borough of Hackney[6] and he sits as a crossbencher.

In 2014 he was awarded the Liberty Human Rights 'Campaign of the Year Award'. The citation reads: "for leading the campaign to ensure the protection of the Human Rights Act would apply to all residential care provided or arranged by local authorities. His victory forced the Government to accept the importance of guaranteeing human rights protections by demonstrating just how relevant those rights are for all." The award was presented to Lord Low at the annual Human Rights Awards ceremony at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on 1 December 2014.

References

  1. ↑ UKAAF, Profile Archived 2013-04-16 at archive.today
  2. ↑ http://www.euroblind.org
  3. ↑ "Our board". The Snowdon Trust. Archived from the original on 1 March 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "ICEVI - International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment". ICEVI. Archived from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  5. ↑ "No. 55710". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1999. p. 10.
  6. ↑ "No. 58013". The London Gazette. 16 June 2006. p. 8261.
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