AT Network Brown Bag Speaker Series
The AT Network is proud to welcome artist and international disability rights advocate Victor Pineda as our guest in this month's AT Brown Bag Lunch Series.
Victor stopped walking at age 5 and by the time he was in high school he used a machine to help him breathe. His mother quickly realized her son would have few opportunities in their home of Venezuela so the family moved to California. It was opportunity and resilience that allowed Victor to flourish. His physical condition never stopped him from living his life fully. Victor has studied and documented the socio-cultural factors that kept people with disabilities marginalized and stigmatized all over the world.
Victor founded The Victor Pineda Foundation (VPF) as part of his dedication and commitment to the advancement of the human rights of young people with disabilities. Victor emerged as one of the young global leaders of the international disability rights movement and was the youngest delegate negotiating the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, the first human rights treaty of the 21st century.
Victor is a recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service for his life-long efforts for promoting equal rights and opportunities for children and young people with disabilities. Victor has presented his work to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Aid, the US Department of Justice, the US Treasury, the World Bank, the United Nations, as well as to the governments of Thailand, Serbia, Cuba, Venezuela, Bosnia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Victor Pineda studied at the University of California, Berkeley, where he obtained degrees in Political Economy, Business Administration, and a masters in City and Regional Planning. He is currently at the University of California Los Angeles completing his PhD. Mr. Pineda is also the 2009 Fulbright-Hays Fellow at the Dubai School for Government in the United Arab Emirates.
