Dr. Victor Santiago Pineda as the new Executive Director of CIL!
With his extensive experience as a global advocate for disability rights and his innovative vision, Dr. Pineda is set to lead bThe center for Independent Living into an exhilarating new chapter of empowerment and inclusion.
Victor Santiago Pineda was born in Caracas, Venezuela, At the age of two, Pineda was hospitalized with a high fever and for the next five years he demonstrated gradual weakening of his skeletal muscles. By age four, his weakened muscles caused him to fall repeatedly and by age seven, he stopped walking completely. His muscular deterioration would continue and eventually affect his breathing. By the time he was in high school, he needed to use a ventilator at night, and by the time he started his doctoral program in his late-twenties, he required a ventilator twenty-four hours per day.
As a child, Pineda was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA-Type II), a form of muscular dystrophy. However, as an adult, he was examined by a neurophysiologist who, with the use of electromyography, determined that there was no evidence to suggest Spinal muscular atrophy. The specific cause of Pineda's muscle weakness was identified as collagenopathy VI, resulting from an extremely common genetic mutation.

Pineda attended Corona Del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California, and was selected by his graduating class as a commencement speaker. Upon graduating in 1997, Pineda attended the California Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities (YLF). As a freshman at the University of California Berkeley, he received specialized support services provided by the Disabled Students Office (DSP) and participated in the Disabled Students Residence Program (DSRP).[cita
While at UC Berkeley was elected senator for the ASUC student government, defended ethnic studies, with the leadership of Andrew Berk, hehelped resurrect the long dormant Disabled Students Union (DSU). During this time he established the Disability Media Initiative (DMI) and the Pineda Foundation to provide 21st century workforce skills to youth with disabilities. Pineda earned a B.A. in political economy, a B.S. in business administration and, eventually, a master's degree in city and regional planning (MCP) with a concentration in regional economic development. He then accepted an internship in Washington, D.C., where he served as a summer associate at the US Treasury's Department of International Affairs.
IPineda was awarded the American Association of People with Disabilities Paul G. Hearne Award.Pineda's "It's About Ability" projectwas honored in Montenegro for the Best Humanitarian Action by UNICEF.Also in 2011, he received the prestigious Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement by a Young Alumnus/a, Cal Alumni Association for his work in education and human rights.
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