Disability Advocate Founder, AOTH.org
Meet Shira
Biography
Shira Leeder (she/her) is a disability advocate, committed to making a difference for others with disabilities, seniors and other marginalized populations. Born in Palo Alto, CA, she attended the University of California, Berkeley for her undergraduate degree, majoring in American Studies with an emphasis in Disability Studies, earning her degree with honors. She also holds a certificate on Nonprofit Management from Cal State East Bay in Hayward.
Deciding to go back to college in 2020, after having difficulty finding full time employment in her area of interest, Shira is currently working toward obtaining her master’s in public administration with an emphasis in Nonprofit Management at San Francisco State University. After graduation, it is her desire to create a nonprofit focusing on Alternative Cooperative Housing services for people with disabilities.
Shira has Cerebral Palsy since birth. She wears hearing aids and uses an electric wheelchair for everyday use. She was first earned recognized for her advocacy work in September 2012, when she won the Ms. Wheelchair California Pageant. This contest awards an accomplished and articulate spokesperson for Americans with disabilities. Shira traveled around the state of California to communicate the needs and accomplishments of people with disabilities to the general public, business communities and legislature.
Her journey as a disability advocacy began in 1999, when she was selected as the youth participant for the Youth with Disabilities Conference in Washington, D.C. After graduating from UC Berkeley, in 2010, Shira started working with the Friends of Kenney Cottage Garden, a community project that aims to make gardens a unique ecologically sustainable public space. She was responsible for making the garden a place where people with disabilities could meet their neighbors and participate in community events in including the Friends of Kenney Cottage Community Garden in Berkeley.
Shira has volunteered her time by serving on several local and state level nonprofits for over 20 years including the City of Berkeley’s Commission on Disability. For the past 8 years she has served on the City of Berkeley’s Commission on Disability, helping to shape a variety of policies for Berkeley’s City Council in the areas of universal design awareness for all city departments while collaborating with other commissioners.
Currently, Shira is a committee member of VTA Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility Board, Board Member, San Jose, Ca, October 2022 to the present by Improving and make better the affordability and accessibility of all mode of transportation within the VTA organization especially VTA Access Paratransit within the Santa Clara County for Seniors and people with disabilities.
Shira has begun to write her memoir about growing up as a Jewish woman with Cerebral Palsy. She enjoys authoring poems, traveling, drawing and painting, and learning the history of other cultures and loves to be outdoors in nature or at the beach enjoying the beautiful sunsets with her golden retriever dogs. She is honored, humbled, and proud to be a part of the disabled community.