Susan Chandler
MPA
President
California Association for the Physically Handicapped, Inc
When Susan Chandler graduated, she was privileged to win the Dalmas Nelson award for her Thesis! She also applied for and got accepted into the CA State University/Sacramento & CA Governor’s Executive Fellowship Program. She worked for 10 months at the Staff Services Analyst level for CalTrans at the EEO office in the Disability Program. There she developed a flyer describing how to get a State of CA entry level job as a person with a disability in the LEAP program. After that she worked as a temp for CalTrans then with the Employment Development Department. Then got a better offer working with the local Independent Living Center (ILC) to run the Transitional Living Center. Then Chandler went on to work in Anaheim at another ILC for a year. She then went back to Sacramento to lead the Handicapped Parking Patrol for a year until the Sheriff took it over! She worked as a substitute teacher for the next several years until health problems that took her out of the workforce and forced her to retire on disability.
Upon her arrival in California, Chandler became involved with CAPH, California Association for the Physically Handicapped, Inc, the group that got a lot of the laws for physical and program access passed into law in the 70’s and 80’s. The group has struggled to maintain its presence in Sacramento and changed it’s name and focus to Californians for Disability Rights, Inc. Chandler has been an officer since about 2000 and currently serves as President.
Chandler has a 49-year-old son, John, who lives in Salt Lake City with his family and works for Parker Brinkerhoff. Her 42-year-old daughter, Maggie Bodemer, is an Anthropologist who teaches history at CalPoly San Luis Obispo and lives in San Luis Obispo with her family. Chandler and her second husband, Edward, retired to the central coast of California and live just 12 miles west of San Luis Obispo with their three maltipoos.