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Anita Shafer Aaron

Board Member

Anita Aaron headshotAnita joined World Institute on Disability (WID) in 2010 after serving for twenty years as CEO of the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, headquartered in San Francisco. Her disability rights work officially began in 1981 as Deputy Director of the Berkeley Center for Independent Living, and she was one of WID's pioneering staff members in 1983-86.

She has a bachelor's degree in sociology, a master's in public administration, and certificates in facilitative mediation and nonprofit management.

Acknowledgements include the Community Leadership Award from Independent Living Resource Center, San Francisco in 2005; an Access Award from American Foundation for the Blind in 2006; an Award for Excellence from San Francisco Mayor's Council on Disability; the Distinguished Service Award from California Council of the Blind in 2007; and, in 2013, she was one of 50 Notable People in the Disability Community in California.

Anita defines herself as a mother, grandmother, community partner, and agent for disability justice.