Luis Calderon has played a pivotal role in shaping California's personal assistance consumers' movement during the last decade. Both as an advocate and as an administrator, Calderon has ensured that consumers' voices were heard during key developments such as the unionization of home care workers, the growth of the public authorities, the fight against proposed cuts to the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, and the battle over expansion of the institution called Laguna Honda Hospital. He has become a respected disability rights leader. Born in Bolivia, Calderon moved with his family to Honduras when he was thirteen. About a year later, he sustained a spinal cord injury. He was taken to the United States for treatment and rehabilitation, and he stayed, eventually earning his bachelor's degree at San Francisco State University, and a Development Director Certificate at the University of San Francisco. As a nonUS citizen, he was not eligible for publicly funded attendant services until the late 1990s, and so his mother provided all of his personal assistance for many years. Nevertheless, he became a passionate advocate for his friends and neighbors who were IHSS consumers. He founded a grassroots group called Consumers In Action for Personal Assistance, to represent clients' interests in working with the home care workers' union. Calderon worked for one year as Attendant Referral/Peer Counselor for San Francisco's Independent Living Resources, and for three years as a Housing Counselor for the Coalition for Low Income Housing. Then, in 1996, he was hired as a Placement Coordinator for San Francisco's new Public Authority, which is the employer of record of IHSS attendants. In addition to managing the attendants' payroll and health care benefits, the Public Authority also operates an attendant referral registry, offers training programs to both consumers and attendants, provides some on call attendant backup services, and involves consumers and attendants in program and policy development. In 2000, Calderon became Project Coordinator at the Public Authority and then, in 2001, he was promoted to Program Manager, a job he held for nearly five years. In February of 2006, Calderon requested to return to the position of Project Coordinator, where he could participate more directly in advocacy and training projects. With his wealth of detailed policy and program knowledge, his commitment to the rights of people with disabilities, and his political savvy, Calderon is an effective advocate and a recognized expert.