Claudia Cockburn

{{Short description|American-British disability activist}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Claudia Cockburn

| birth_date = {{birth date|1933|02|11|df=y}}

| birth_place= New York City, US

| death_date = {{death date and age|1998|06|25|1933|02|11|df=y}}

| death_place= London, England

| occupation = Activist

| spouse = Michael Flanders

| children = Laura Flanders
Stephanie Flanders

| parents = Claud Cockburn
Hope Hale Davis

| relatives = {{unbulleted list|Sarah Caudwell (paternal half-sister)|Alexander Cockburn (paternal half-brother)|Andrew Cockburn (paternal half-brother)|Patrick Cockburn (paternal half-brother)|Lydia Davis (maternal half-sister)|Olivia Wilde (niece)}}

}}

Claudia Cockburn Flanders, OBE (11 February 1933 – 25 June 1998) was an American-British disability activist who spent much of her working life in the United Kingdom.

Her parents were Claud Cockburn, a journalist, and Hope Hale Davis. She married singer-songwriter Michael Flanders in 1959.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/16/archives/michael-flanders-is-dead-at-53-humoriststar-of-drop-of-a-hat.html|title=Michael Flanders Is Dead at 53; Humorist-Star of 'Drop of a Hat'|last=Krebs|first=Albin|date=16 April 1975|work=The New York Times|access-date=9 August 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/jul/26/stephanie-flanders-interview|title=The interview: Stephanie Flanders|last=Cadwalladr|first=Carole|date=25 July 2009|work=The Observer|access-date=9 August 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0029-7712}} Her stepmother, by her father's remarriage, was Jean Ross, the reported inspiration for Christopher Isherwood's iconic character Sally Bowles.{{cite book | last = Garebian | first = Keith | title = The Making of Cabaret | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | page = 4| year = 2011 | isbn=978-0199732500 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PuD3p2IGW5oC}} Through her father, she was the half-sister of mystery writer Sarah Caudwell, Ross's daughter, Irish journalists Alexander, Andrew and Patrick Cockburn, and paternal aunt of actress Olivia Wilde (née Cockburn), including Wilde's siblings. Through her mother, she was the half-sister of the American writer Lydia Davis.

In 1987, Flanders formed Tripscope, an organisation to help disabled people with transportation difficulties.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3587226/Ill-give-as-good-as-I-get.html|title='I'll give as good as I get'|last=Grice|first=Elizabeth|date=17 December 2002|access-date=9 August 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-claudia-flanders-1173922.html Obituary], Independent.co.uk; accessed 25 March 2017. She created the post of adviser on disability to the National Bus Company (UK) in the 1970s and served for many years on the national Joint Committee on Mobility for Disabled People and the Department of Transport Advisory Committee on Disability in the UK. She was awarded an OBE in 1981 for her services to disabled people.{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1982/may/26/transport-without-handicap-dot-report|title="Transport without Handicap": DOT Report (Hansard)|date=26 May 1982|website=api.parliament.uk|access-date=9 August 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/49008/supplement/10|title=Official Public Record|website=The London Gazette}}{{Cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199394/cmhansrd/1994-02-11/Writtens-1.html|title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 11 Feb 1994|website=publications.parliament.uk|access-date=9 August 2019}}