{{Short description|American disability rights activist}} '''Susan E. Sygall''' is an American disability rights advocate and civil rights leader. She is the CEO of Mobility International USA (MIUSA), which she co-founded in 1981.
== Biography == Sygall has been a wheelchair rider since the age of 18. She attended the University of California, Berkeley. In 1974 she co-founded the Disabled Women's Coalition at the University of California, Berkeley, with Deborah Kaplan. During her time at Berkeley she also founded a recreational sports program for students with disabilities. In 1975 she spent a year as an exchange student at the University of Queensland in Australia through a goodwill ambassador program of the Rotary Club. She received her B.S. degree in 1976 and earned her M.S. in therapeutic recreation from the University of Oregon in 1981.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Destinations: Where are the other wheelchairs?|journal=International Educator|date=May–June 2011|pages=45–46|url=http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/inted/Success%20Stories_Study%20Abroad.pdf}}</ref>
Sygall's experiences traveling abroad led her to co-found the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization Mobility International USA with Barbara Williams in 1981. MIUSA received funding from the United States Information Agency in 1995 to start the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange. The organization runs an exchange program and promotes the inclusion of people with disabilities in international volunteer exchanges.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Joseph|last2=DeZerega|first2=Stefano|last3=Heckscher|first3=Zahara|title=How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas|date=2002|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-14-200071-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/howtoliveyourdre00coll_0/page/352 352]|url=https://archive.org/details/howtoliveyourdre00coll_0|url-access=registration|quote=Susan E. Sygall.|chapter=Organizational Profiles: Mobility International (MIUSA)}}</ref>
Sygall won the prestigious Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards in 2014 for her work in the disability sector.<ref>{{cite web|title=2014 Henry Viscardi Achievement Award Recipients|url=https://www.viscardicenter.org/about/hvaa/susan-sygall/|website=Viscardi Center}}</ref> She was the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|title=Susan E. Sygall|url=http://www.macfound.org/fellows/649/|publisher=MacArthur Foundation|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref> She was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2013.<ref>{{cite news|title=Meet New Ashoka Fellow Susan Sygall|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2013/05/24/meet-new-ashoka-fellow-susan-sygall/|work=Forbes|date=May 24, 2013}}</ref> She has served as an editor for ''Transitions Abroad''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Contributing Editors|url=http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/9909/|publisher=Transitions Abroad|date=September–October 1999}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.makers.com/susan-sygall Susan Sygall] Video produced by ''Makers: Women Who Make America''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sygall, Susan E}} Category:Living people Category:1950s births Category:American disability rights activists Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:University of Oregon alumni Category:University of Queensland alumni Category:American social entrepreneurs Category:Year of birth missing (living people)