Diane Kingston

[1][2] She is the Global Technical Lead for Disability Rights and Equalities Sightsavers[3] and a volunteer for Shout- the mental health crisis text service Kingston was born on 4 October 1966 and brought up in Barnstaple, North Devon.

[2] She left school with few qualifications, a fact attributed to undiagnosed dyslexia,[4] but was accepted as a mature student at Queen's University, Belfast.

She worked at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) as a research officer[6] before becoming the joint Country Director of VSO Indonesia.

[16] Kingston was a member of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) Independent Reference Group on tackling sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment.,[17] between 2019-2021 and was a non-executive director of the board of Development Initiatives from 2019-2021 Kingston became engaged in the national disability arena in the UK from 2006 after her return from Indonesia.

[21] She supported Go ON Gold, which was a national campaign to raise awareness about the barriers faced by disabled people in accessing computers and the internet.

From 2006-2008 she was a member of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's Guideline Development Group[29] on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

[34] She is a member of the International Disabled People Advisory Committee of PENDA at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.