Bio

Hillary Marides resides in North Hills, CA. She was born with Cerebral Palsy. Hillary is a Ministry Associate of Joni And Friends International Disability Center. She also serves on the Consumer Advisory Board at North Los Angeles County Regional Center and the C.C.I. Consumer Council of LA Care Health Plan. Her platform is lower out of pocket health care costs for those affected by disabilities.

Hillary earned her BSW from Gordon College in Wenham, MA in 1989, and moved to California to get involved with Joni And Friends. She earned her MS in counseling from California State University, Northridge in 1992. While at CSUN  she was a counseling trainee in the Office of Disabled Student Services .and won the disabled student services award She was also a counselor at Jr. Wheelchair Sports Camp.

In May 200l She earned her Pupil Personnel Services Credential from California State University, Northridge and worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District. After been laid off , She returned to Joni And Friends.

From 2010-2013 Hillary took biblical counseling classes at The Master’s College and is currently working on Counseling and Theology exams and hopes to be certified by the Association of  Certified  Biblical counselors in the near future.

In her free time Hillary is active in her local church, writes her blog and loves to swim!

The Newly Crowned Ms Wheelchair California 2015 Hillary Marides

Thursday night August 20, 2015 I was crowned Ms Wheelchair California 2015 to succeed Dr Alette Coble Temple Ms Wheelchair America  2016. As Ms Wheelchair California 2015 my platform is less out of pocket medical costs for those affected by disabilities. Why is this important? When Obama Care was passed. People affected by disabilities didn’t get better health care.We got health care rationing! As a 50 year old disabled woman born with Cerebral Palsy. I have less access to health care than I did one year ago! When I was on fee for service Medi Cal and Medicare I could go to any doctor and any hospital that accepted medical/medicare. As a result I was forced to terminated my relationship with my gynecologist  of ten years because he doesn’t work out of the hospital on my health plan nor with my primary care doctor.  I can no longer see the orthopedist who did my hip surgery either because he works at yet another hospital not on my health plan. Many adults affected by disabilities in California find themselves in similar  situations.That’s  why this is important!