Ms Wheelchair California 2007

Susan Rotchy, Ms Wheelchair California 2007 currently resides in Dixon with her husband and two children. She was left paralyzed from an automobile accident 11 years ago. Since her accident Susan has become an activist for people with disabilities beginning with having a voice at the community college she attended and with that voice enforcing the college to become ADA compliance. Realizing, she had an aptitude to bring the disability community and the able body community together from this experience she proceeded straight to the capitol while completing her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Golden Gate University.
Susan wanted to move her paralyzed body again and realized that there was potential research being done for spinal cord injuries but there was no adequate funding for the scientists. In 2000 she helped pass the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act through her membership in Californians for Cures, which also took an active part in the passage of Proposition 71, the Stem Cell Research and Cures Act 2004. Additionally, she is one of the co-founders of Research for Cure, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization which raises money for neurological diseases, which has raised 300,000 dollars for the Reeve Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine. For her continuous work on raising monies for research she has been thanked by the late Christopher Reeves and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Today, Susan sits on the In Home Support Service advisory committee for Solano County and is a board member of Independent Living Resource of Contra Costa County. She is an active member of the Napa Spinal Cord Network Group as well as vice president of Research for Cure. She is employed as Program Manager at Independent Living Resource in Fairfield. In her spare time she plays the flute and piano and her hobbies include quilting and cake decorating. Her platform is bringing awareness to the programs available for people with disabilities to live independent lives. Her motto is “United As One”.