Kathleen Barajas

Kathleen Barajas is a Disability Rights Advocate, an accountant, and President/Founder of Project AIR. She has an Associate of Arts degree in Business Administration, an Associate of Arts degree in Media Arts, a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems, and an Advanced Certificate in Accounting. She also recently earned a Certificate of Completion from Disability Voices United for their Emerging Leaders Program.

Kathleen was born with cerebral palsy and has been a Disability Rights Advocate since 2010. She has become more actively engaged in the disability community throughout the years, including serving on various committees such as LAX’s Disability Access and Accommodation Advisory Committee, the Department of Rehabilitation’s Assistive Technology Advisory Committee, PASC’s Registry Review Committee, and the State Council on Developmental Disabilities’ Regional Advisory Committee.

From 2018 to 2020, she served as the President, Newsletter Editor, and Web Mistress of Californians for Disability Rights, which was the oldest and largest membership organization of persons with disabilities in California. From 2020-2022, she was appointed to the State Independent Living Council, where she served as Vice-Chair of both their Communication and Collaboration and State Plan for Independent Living Committees, along with being their representative on the Cal Able Board. She currently serves on Los Angeles Metro’s Accessibility Advisory Committee, where she is the First Vice Chair.

Kathleen received the Access Award from Los Angeles County Commission on Disability, District 5, and the Community Service Award from Disabled Resource Center, Long Beach. She was also crowned Ms. Wheelchair California in 2016 and won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ms. Wheelchair America 2017 Pageant in Michigan. During this time, she was honored to speak on various disability issues as a Disability Rights Advocate throughout California.

Kathleen is excited about serving on the Board of Directors to be a strong voice for individuals with significant disabilities, especially those who use augmentative communication and require long-term services and supports. She takes pride in working on issues that improve accessibility in the communities, improve the needed services, and serve as a spokesperson throughout the Los Angeles area.