Quadriplegic, Ligia Andrade Zuniga, running for school Board of Trustees

Her story is similar to many of those with a spinal cord injury. In January of 2009, Ligia Andrade Zuniga, a mother of two boys age 12 and 7, was involved in a car accident that left her with a C5-6 complete injury. NorCal SCI co-founder, Franklin Elieh, met Ligia at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center during his peer support volunteer work. “I can tell you that despite the hard hand she was dealt with, she did not use her disability as an excuse one single time and made sure her boys understood that.” Fast forward to today, Ligia is running for the San Mateo Union High School District Board of Trustees on Nov. 3rd.

And she hasn’t sat idly over these years either. Ligia is a Commissioner for the San Mateo County Commission on Disabilities, Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Center for Independence of Individuals with Disabilities-San Mateo, a Sexuality and Disability Educator for Sexability, and has been a volunteer peer supporter at the same hospital she did her rehab. In the meantime, both her boys are in college and she is now determined to create opportunities for all students to have an equal voice that communicates their experiences and their needs, including all those who are invisible, underserved and underrepresented.

You can check out her campaign website HERE.