Editing Christopher Reeve (section)

==Activism==
At the age of 15, Reeve developed a passionate interest in political and social causes. He conducted a door-to-door campaign on behalf of [[Robert F. Kennedy]] in 1968 and participated in protests against the [[Cambodian campaign|invasion of Cambodia]] in 1970.<ref>{{cite video |people=Lewis, Hal (director of production) |date=2004 |title=Christopher Reeve |type=documentary |language=en |location=United States |publisher=A&E Biography}}</ref>

After the release of ''Superman'', Reeve used his celebrity status to enable him to support several philanthropic causes. Through the [[Make-A-Wish Foundation]], he visited terminally ill children. He joined the board of directors for the worldwide charity [[Save the Children]]. In 1979, he served as a track and field coach at the [[Special Olympics]].<ref>Reeve, Christopher (1998), p. 201</ref>

Reeve was critical of [[Ronald Reagan]]'s presidency.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sandler |first=Norman D. |date=June 12, 1983 |title=Politics ignored in White House guest list |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/12/Politics-ignored-in-White-House-guest-list/6639424238400/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250308043614/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/12/Politics-ignored-in-White-House-guest-list/6639424238400/ |archive-date=March 8, 2025 |access-date=March 8, 2025 |website=UPI}}</ref> In the 1980s, he campaigned for Vermont Senator [[Patrick Leahy]] and made speeches throughout the state.{{refn|group=note|Reeve's daughter Alexandra served on the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]] under Leahy from 2011 to 2016. First as a Nominations Counsel, and then as Chief Counsel for IP and Antitrust.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 16, 2024 |title=How I Got Here: Alexandra Reeve Givens '08 |url=https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/how-i-got-here-alexandra-reeve-givens-08 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250118101054/https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/how-i-got-here-alexandra-reeve-givens-08 |archive-date=January 18, 2025 |access-date=March 9, 2025 |website=Columbia Law School}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Carson |first=Angelique |date=June 23, 2020 |title=Introducing CDT's new CEO: Alexandra Reeve Givens |url=https://iapp.org/news/a/introducing-cdts-new-ceo-alexandra-reeves-givens |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325073754/https://iapp.org/news/a/introducing-cdts-new-ceo-alexandra-reeves-givens/ |archive-date=March 25, 2023 |access-date=March 9, 2025 |website=IAPP}}</ref>}} He served as a board member for the Charles Lindbergh Fund, which promotes environmentally safe technologies, and lent support to causes such as [[Amnesty International]], the [[Natural Resources Defense Council]], and [[People for the American Way]]. As a pilot with the Environmental Air Force he gave government officials and journalists aerial tours over areas of environmental damage.<ref>Reeve, Christopher (1998). p. 228</ref> In 1983, Reeve was elected to [[Actors' Equity Association]] Council.<ref>{{cite web |title=Equity Timeline 100 Years |url=https://www.actorsequity.org/timeline/timeline_2004.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124105903/https://www.actorsequity.org/timeline/timeline_2004.html |archive-date=January 24, 2025 |access-date=November 18, 2024 |website=Actors' Equity Association}}</ref>

[[File:Ismael Durán con Christopher Reeve.jpg|thumb|Reeve at ''Life and Art'' rally in Chile, November 1987]]
In late 1987, in [[Santiago]], Chile, the country's dictator, [[Augusto Pinochet]], threatened to execute 77 actors. [[Ariel Dorfman]] asked Reeve to help save their lives. Reeve flew to Chile and helped lead a protest march.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mehren |first=Elizabeth |date=December 30, 1987 |title=Reeve's Real-Life Human-Rights Role in Chile : Superman Moved to Give Moral Support to Threatened Actors |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-30-ca-21719-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241212125116/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-30-ca-21719-story.html |archive-date=December 12, 2024 |access-date=November 11, 2024 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> A cartoon then ran in a newspaper showing him carrying Pinochet by the collar with the caption, "Where will you take him, Superman?" For his contribution to the protest, Reeve was awarded the Grand Cross of the [[Order of Bernardo O'Higgins]], the highest Chilean distinction for foreigners. He also received an [[Obie Award]] and the Annual Walter Briehl Human Rights Foundation award.<ref name="Chile">{{cite web |date=January 28, 2004 |title=Chile honours Christopher Reeve, Superman |url=https://en.mercopress.com/2004/01/28/chile-honours-christopher-reeve-superman |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241112231801/https://en.mercopress.com/2004/01/28/chile-honours-christopher-reeve-superman |archive-date=November 12, 2024 |access-date=November 11, 2024 |website=MercoPress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Weinstein |first=Steve |date=May 25, 1988|title=Stage|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-25-ca-3061-story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111180124/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-25-ca-3061-story.html|archive-date=November 11, 2023|access-date=October 27, 2020|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> The following year, Reeve was among the international stars for the No campaign in the [[1988 Chilean presidential referendum|Chilean presidential referendum]] that marked the end of Pinochet's rule.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 20, 2022 |title=Superman in Chile |url=https://radioambulante.org/en/translation/superman-in-chile-translation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240919024825/https://radioambulante.org/en/translation/superman-in-chile-translation |archive-date=September 19, 2024 |access-date=November 14, 2024 |website=[[Radio Ambulante]]}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|The 2012 Chilean film ''[[No (2012 film)|No]]'', which was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best International Feature Film|Best Foreign Language Film]] at the [[85th Academy Awards]], features archive footage of Reeve from the campaign. In 2023, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' reported that [[Pablo Larraín]]'s (director of ''No'') production company Fábula was developing the [[docudrama]] series about Reeve's trip to Chile.<ref>{{cite web |last=De Pablos |first=Emiliano |date=June 21, 2023 |title=Larrains' Fabula Preps 'Superman's Bodyguards,' on Christopher Reeve's Chile Trip Under Pinochet's Dictatorship |url=https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/chile-christopher-reeve-fabula-larrain-brothers-1235650736/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705040729/https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/chile-christopher-reeve-fabula-larrain-brothers-1235650736/ |archive-date=July 5, 2023 |access-date=November 15, 2024 |website=Variety}}</ref>}}

Reeve spoke out against [[Donald Trump]]'s developing projects on [[Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan)|West End Avenue]] in the late 1980s. The 1991 documentary ''[[Trump: What's the Deal?]]'', which was suppressed for years, showed Reeve deliver a critical speech on the topic at a public event. The documentary also featured an interview in which Reeve called Trump's ambitions "the American dream gone berserk", adding, "You're allowed to dream as big as you want, but if your dreams step on the lives of ordinary people and ruin the quality of their life and their neighborhood, you have to be stopped."<ref>{{cite web |last=Johnston |first=David Cay |date=August 1, 2015 |title=Trump: Documentary The Donald Suppressed, Free At Last |url=https://www.nationalmemo.com/trump-documentary-the-donald-suppressed-free-at-last |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022155858/https://www.nationalmemo.com/trump-documentary-the-donald-suppressed-free-at-last |archive-date=October 22, 2021 |access-date=January 18, 2025 |website=The National Memo}}</ref><ref>{{cite video |last1=Levin |first1=Al |last2=Handros |first2=Libby |date=July 5, 1991 |title=Trump: What's The Deal? Full Documentary (1991) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYU2FJxsSeE |type=Documentary |language=en |publisher=Journeyman Pictures |access-date=January 18, 2025}}</ref>

In 1993, a teacher at [[Flowing Wells High School]] was fired for staging a play with homosexual themes during the school's arts week. In response, People for the American Way held a forum on the issue of censorship in [[Tucson, Arizona]]. Reeve and several other actors performed an impromptu reading of the play to a standing ovation. Representing the actors on the panel discussion, Reeve was heckled by some parents, to which he responded, "What I hear this lady saying is that she is uncomfortable with things that don't resemble her or her way of life. This country is founded on a completely different principle, which is tolerance and diversity." The dismissed teacher described the demonstration as "a healing experience".<ref>{{cite web |last=Haithman |first=Diane |date=December 4, 1993 |title=This Won't Be Your Typical High School Debate : Theater: Arizona school's cancellation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning play spurs a censorship forum Monday. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-04-ca-63819-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250208145837/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-04-ca-63819-story.html |archive-date=February 8, 2025 |access-date=February 8, 2025 |website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Man of Steel: The Career and Courage of Christopher Reeve |author=Havill, Adrian |date=July 1, 1996 |publisher=Signet |pages=224–225 |isbn=0-451-19153-6}}</ref>

In 1989, Reeve's friend [[Ron Silver]] started the [[Creative Coalition]] (TCC), a liberal organization aiming to teach celebrities how to speak knowledgeably about political issues. Reeve was an early member of the group, along with [[Susan Sarandon]], [[Alec Baldwin]], and [[Blythe Danner]]. The group's initiatives included environmental issues and defending the [[National Endowment of the Arts]], which was under attack from conservative Republicans who objected to taxpayer funding of art they considered offensive. Reeve was elected as a co-president of TCC in 1994. They were instrumental in starting residential recycling in New York, convincing the [[State legislature (United States)|state legislature]] to allocate $1 billion to protect the city's watershed area, and stopping the building of a [[coal-fired power station]] near Albany. The organization's work was noticed nationwide, and the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] asked Reeve to run for the [[United States Congress]]. He replied, "Run for Congress? And lose my influence in Washington?"<ref>Reeve, Christopher (1998), pp. 239–241</ref><ref name="Ability"/> In 1997, TCC established the Christopher Reeve First Amendment Award.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 11, 2004 |title=The Creative Coalition Mourns Loss of Past President and Founding Member Christopher Reeve |url=https://thecreativecoalition.org/the-creative-coalition-mourns-loss-of-past-president-and-founding-member-christopher-reeve/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124123031/https://thecreativecoalition.org/the-creative-coalition-mourns-loss-of-past-president-and-founding-member-christopher-reeve/ |archive-date=January 24, 2025 |access-date=November 18, 2024 |website=The Creative Coalition}}</ref>

In 1996, 10 months after his injury, Reeve appeared at the [[68th Academy Awards]] to a long standing ovation. He used the occasion to encourage [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] to make more films on social issues, saying, "Let's continue to take risks. Let's tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Christopher Reeve Prompts Emotional Ovation at Oscars|work=[[Associated Press News]]|url=https://apnews.com/article/73f74f4834995ffd4abd21284bd268c0|access-date=October 26, 2020}}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ffSy3-PJ5QI Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20101023113730/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffSy3-PJ5QI&feature=related Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite web|title=Christopher Reeve at the Oscars®| date=July 2009 |via = YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffSy3-PJ5QI}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Disability activism===
{{See also|Spinal cord injury research}}
Reeve left the Kessler Rehabilitation Center feeling inspiration from the other patients he had met. Because the media was constantly covering him, he decided to use his name to put focus on [[Spinal cord injury|spinal cord injuries]]. He traveled across the country to make speeches and also hosted the [[1996 Summer Paralympics|1996 Summer Paralympic Games]] in [[Atlanta]] and spoke at the [[1996 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Summer Games |url=https://www.paralympicheritage.org.uk/atlanta-1996-paralympic-summer-games |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240917101629/https://www.paralympicheritage.org.uk/atlanta-1996-paralympic-summer-games |archive-date=September 17, 2024 |access-date=February 23, 2025 |website=National Paralympic Heritage Trust}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Roeper |first=Richard |date=August 12, 2024 |title=How Chicago's 1968, 1996 conventions stirred songs, movies and a dance craze |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2024-democratic-national-convention/2024/08/12/dnc-chicago-1968-1996-trial-7-jfk-jr-macarena-rent-christopher-reeve-graham-nash-prologue-dan-rather-walter-cronkite |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915231512/https://chicago.suntimes.com/2024-democratic-national-convention/2024/08/12/dnc-chicago-1968-1996-trial-7-jfk-jr-macarena-rent-christopher-reeve-graham-nash-prologue-dan-rather-walter-cronkite |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |access-date=March 11, 2025 |website=Chicago Sun-Times}}</ref> For these efforts, he was placed on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' on August 26, 1996.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=August 26, 1996 |title=Super Man |url=https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19960826,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622135449/https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19960826,00.html |archive-date=June 22, 2017 |access-date=February 23, 2025 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref>

Reeve was elected chairman of the [[American Paralysis Association]] and vice chairman of the National Organization on Disability. With [[Joan Irvine Smith]], he co-founded the Reeve-Irvine Research Center, which is now one of the leading [[spinal cord injury research|spinal cord research]] centers in the world.<ref>{{cite web|title=About The Center|url=http://www.reeve.uci.edu/about.html|publisher=Reeve-Irvin Research Center|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250204185250/https://www.reeve.uci.edu/about|archive-date=February 4, 2025|access-date=September 4, 2015}}</ref> In 1999, the American Paralysis Association and Reeve's own foundation, established in 1996, were merged into the [[Christopher Reeve Foundation]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our History|url=https://www.christopherreeve.org/community/about-us/history-of-the-reeve-foundation/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114145112/https://www.christopherreeve.org/community/about-us/history-of-the-reeve-foundation/|archive-date=January 14, 2025|access-date=October 18, 2020|publisher=Reeve Foundation}}</ref> which aims to speed up research through funding and to use grants to improve the quality of lives of people with disabilities. The Foundation to date has given more than $140 million to research and more than $46 million in quality-of-life grants.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our Approach to Research|url=https://www.christopherreeve.org/tomorrows-cure/approach-to-research/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250212032452/https://www.christopherreeve.org/tomorrows-cure/approach-to-research/|archive-date=February 12, 2025|access-date=November 10, 2024|website=Reeve Foundation|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Funding for Nonprofits / Quality of Life Grants|url=https://www.christopherreeve.org/get-support/grants-for-non-profits|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250215054946/https://www.christopherreeve.org/todays-care/get-support/grants-for-non-profits/|archive-date=February 15, 2025|access-date=November 10, 2024|website=Reeve Foundation}}</ref> Reeve served as a board member for several organizations' aim to improve quality of life for people with disabilities.<ref name="CDRF">{{cite web |title=Christopher Reeve |url=https://www.christopherreeve.org/community/about-us/about-christopher-reeve/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241219061556/https://www.christopherreeve.org/community/about-us/about-christopher-reeve/ |archive-date=December 19, 2024 |access-date=January 26, 2025 |website=Reeve Foundation}}</ref>

In the mid-1990s, Reeve established the Christopher Reeve Acting Scholarship, which is given to a young disabled actor at the Media Access Awards, sponsored by the Reeve Foundation. The scholarship changed its name to the Christopher Reeve Acting Award in 2023.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rucker |first=Allen |title=The Media Access Awards Come to PBS |url=https://blog.christopherreeve.org/en/the-media-access-awards-come-to-pbs |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524204835/https://blog.christopherreeve.org/en/the-media-access-awards-come-to-pbs |archive-date=May 24, 2024 |access-date=February 2, 2025 |website=Reeve Foundation}}</ref>

Reeve's first effort to change disability legislation was in supporting a 1997 bill to raise the lifetime "cap" on insurance payments from $1 million to $10 million per person. For catastrophically injured people with one insurance policy, the $1 million limit often lasts just a few years. He said, "There are certain CEOs of insurance companies taking home $300 million a year in personal income. That is outrageous. We need to make insurance companies provide the benefits they are supposed to, and we shouldn't have to fight for necessities." The bill was narrowly defeated.<ref name="Ability"/><ref>Reeve, Christopher (2002), pp. 91–92</ref> In 1999, he supported the Work Incentives Improvement Act, which allows people to continue to receive disability benefits after they return to work. This bill passed.<ref name="CDRF"/>

[[File:Christopher Reeve MIT.jpg|thumb|Reeve discussing stem cell research at a conference at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], March 2, 2003]]
Reeve lobbied for expanded federal funding on [[embryonic stem cell research]] to include all embryonic stem cell lines in existence and for self-governance to make open-ended scientific inquiry of the research.<ref>Christopher Reeve Homepage. [http://www.chrisreevehomepage.com/testimony-nih.html Christopher Reeve Testimony: April 26, 2000]. Retrieved November 30, 2006</ref> President [[George W. Bush]] limited federal funding to research only on human embryonic stem cell lines created on or before August 9, 2001, the day he announced his policy, and allotted approximately $100 million for it. Reeve initially called this "a step in the right direction", admitting he did not know about the existing lines and would look into them further. He fought against the limit when scientists revealed an early research technique involved mixing the human stem cells with mouse cells contaminated most of the old lines.<ref>Viegas, Jennifer. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060721022401/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/07/19/stemcells_hea.html?category=health&guid=20060719143000 In-Depth: Bush Vetoes Stem Cell Bill.] ''Discovery News'', July 19, 2006. Retrieved November 30, 2006</ref>

In 2001, Reeve received [[ASCB Public Service Award|Public Service Award]] from the [[American Society for Cell Biology]] for "outstanding public service in support of biomedical research."<ref name="ASCB">{{cite web |title=Public Service Award |url=https://www.ascb.org/award/public-service-award-recognizes-leadership-in-support-of-biomedical-research/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207230726/https://www.ascb.org/web/20241207230726/https://www.ascb.org/award/public-service-award-recognizes-leadership-in-support-of-biomedical-research/ |archive-date=December 7, 2024 |access-date=November 17, 2024 |website=ASCB}}</ref> 

In 2002, Reeve lobbied for the [[Human Cloning]] Prohibition Act of 2001,<ref>The Library of Congress. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150904081347/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107%3AS.1758%3A S. 1758 'Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001']. Retrieved November 30, 2006</ref> which would allow [[somatic cell nuclear transfer]] research, but would ban [[cloning|reproductive cloning]]. He argued stem cell implantation is unsafe unless the stem cells contain the patient's own [[DNA]] and because somatic cell nuclear transfer is done without fertilizing an egg, it can be fully regulated.<ref>Christopher Reeve Homepage. [http://www.chrisreevehomepage.com/sp-testimony-bill1758.html Christopher Reeve Testimony: March 5, 2002]. Retrieved November 30, 2006</ref> In June 2004, Reeve provided a videotaped message on behalf of the Genetics Policy Institute to the delegates of the [[United Nations]] in defense of somatic cell nuclear transfer, which a world treaty was considering banning.<ref>{{cite web|title=Genetics Policy Institute (GPI)|url=http://www.genpol.org|access-date=July 9, 2013|publisher=Genpol.org|archive-date=June 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610140848/http://genpol.org/}}</ref> In the final days of his life, Reeve urged California voters to vote yes on [[California Constitution Article XXXV|Proposition 71]],<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3947029.stm Reeve stem cell appeal airs in US.] [[BBC News]], October 23, 2004. Retrieved November 30, 2006</ref> which would establish the [[California Institute for Regenerative Medicine]] and would allot $3 billion of state funds to [[stem cell]] research.<ref>Smart Voter. [http://www.smartvoter.org/2004/11/02/ca/state/prop/71/ Proposition 71: Stem Cell Research]. Retrieved November 30, 2006</ref> Proposition 71 was approved less than one month after Reeve's death.

In July 2003, Reeve's continuing frustration with the pace of stem cell research in the US led him to Israel,<ref name="U.S.">{{cite magazine|date=August 11, 2003|title=Superhero Flies To Israel, by Larry Derfner|url=https://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/030811/11spotlight.htm|magazine=[[U.S. News & World Report]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055954/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/030811/11spotlight.htm|archive-date=September 21, 2013|access-date=July 9, 2013}}</ref> a country that was then, according to him, at the center of research in spinal cord injury.<ref name="YouTube">Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/keNu6kHg2T8 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20110317190633/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keNu6kHg2T8 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|date=November 3, 2008|title=Christopher Reeve: Trip to Israel July 2003|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keNu6kHg2T8|access-date=July 9, 2013|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="21c">{{cite web|date=July 27, 2003|title=Christopher Reeve: Israel at Center of World Research on Paralysis, Israel21c|url=http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=45235|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113091420/http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=45235|archive-date=January 13, 2013|access-date=July 9, 2013|publisher=Ujc.org}}</ref> Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited him to seek out the best treatment for his condition. During his visit, Reeve called the experience "a privilege" and said, "Israel has very proactive rehab facilities, excellent medical schools and teaching hospitals, and an absolutely first-rate research infrastructure."<ref name="YouTube" /><ref name="BBC">{{cite news|date=July 31, 2003|title=Reeve boosted by Israel trip|work=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/entertainment/3112737.stm|access-date=July 9, 2013}}</ref> Israelis were very receptive to Reeve's visit, calling him an inspiration to all and urging him never to give up hope.<ref name="YouTube" />

In September 2003, Reeve was awarded the [[Lasker–Bloomberg Public Service Award|Lasker Public Service Award]] "for his perceptive, sustained and heroic advocacy for medical research in general and victims of disability in particular."<ref>{{cite web |last=Altman |first=Lawrence K. |date=September 14, 2003 |title=Christopher Reeve Gets Lasker Public Service Award; 3 Win for Medical Research |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/us/christopher-reeve-gets-lasker-public-service-award-3-win-for-medical-research.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241113060615/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/us/christopher-reeve-gets-lasker-public-service-award-3-win-for-medical-research.html |archive-date=November 13, 2024 |access-date=November 12, 2024 |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="Lasker">{{cite web |title=Advocacy for spinal cord injury research |url=https://laskerfoundation.org/winners/spinal-cord-and-other-disabilities-advocacy/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241113061158/https://laskerfoundation.org/winners/spinal-cord-and-other-disabilities-advocacy/ |archive-date=November 13, 2024 |access-date=November 12, 2024 |website=Lasker Foundation}}</ref>

Commenting on Reeve's impact, [[Jerome Groopman]] said in 2003, "I think that people of prominence or great resources are the ones who act as catalysts in our society.&nbsp;... There was essentially no substantial funding of spinal-cord research before Reeve's injury, and now it is one of the hottest areas in neurobiology. Scientists are flocking to work in it, because science follows the money."<ref name="New Yorker"/> Of Reeve, [[University of California, Irvine|UC Irvine]] said, "in the years following his injury, Christopher did more to promote research on spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders than any other person before or since."<ref>{{cite web |title=Chris Reeve |url=http://www.reeve.uci.edu/chrisreeve/index.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430070119/http://www.reeve.uci.edu/chrisreeve/index.php |archive-date=April 30, 2006 |access-date=March 8, 2025 |website=UCIrvine}}</ref>