Wilda Spalding has dedicated her life to advocacy for human rights, including for the Indigenous, for children, and for the disabled. Despite suffering a devastating car accident as a young adult which left her an incomplete quadriplegic, she overcame those challenges and continued to push ahead with her work. She was instrumental over the years in helping drive forward the policymaking behind the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child and in guiding the UN’s Study Series 6: Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which would contribute to the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Her lobbying of the US Congress also helped advance adoption of our Americans with Disabilities Act, and as a result she was an invited guest to the Rose Garden signing celebration when it was signed into law.
As this critical work was all done as a volunteer, Wilda has no established pension fund or other retirement savings, and no independent Social Security, as she never met the paid work credit minimum required by the US to be eligible. In addition, significant spinal injuries in her early adult years have left her with chronic pain and increasing deterioration in her spine as she ages, requiring ongoing medical intervention. She is confined to a wheelchair but continues to live in her home, now requiring outside care assistance to meet basic maintenance needs. She strongly desires to remain in her home as long as possible, but knows she is facing the likely necessity of moving to an assisted living or nursing facility soon.
This effort to honor her work with a pension has been launched as a US-based special needs trust, registered with the Internal Revenue Service under Employer Identification Number (EIN) 39-6811376, with the hope that family, friends, and current and former colleagues will be inspired to help build a retirement fund for her by making a one-time or recurring contribution.
Wilda’s History
Born in Berkeley, California in 1946, into a family that was civic and arts focused, from an early age Wilda developed a deep insight into human suffering and the need to build peace and understanding between people through the acknowledgment and respect of their human rights. She graduated from the San Francisco College of Women with a Bachelor of Arts and King’s College in London with a Bachelor of Divinity, and then spent her adult career primarily as a volunteer, founding a nonprofit (Rehab Hope Fund, now International Human Rights Consortium), and working with the United Nations and other international governmental and nongovernmental organizations to advance human rights.
In the White House Rose Garden for the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, July 1990 
Front page of the Americans with Disabilities Act, dedicated to Wilda Spalding by Justin Dart, ‘Father of the ADA’, and US Senator Tom Harkin, Chief Congressional Sponsor 
Working on indigenous rights issues at the UN in Geneva, 1990 
Letter from Leandro Despouy, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights and Disability, thanking Wilda for her critical role in advancing the UN’s policymaking on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities. 
Already determined, at three years of age 
With delegation members at the NGO CSW Forum Gala, – 2016 
The spirit of Wilda
About the Trust
This trust has been established as a third-party special needs trust to ensure alignment with US Medicaid policy in providing supplementary funding for needs directly related to Wilda’s care. As the trust has been established in the United States, Jan Robinson, a North Carolina-based colleague of Wilda’s for several years, has been assigned as trustee, working in close collaboration with Wilda’s sister, Mary Howells Bruderlein, from Quebec, Canada.
Contributions by check may be mailed to Jan at the following address:
Jan Robinson
286 White Dove Way
Mocksville, NC 27028
Checks should be made payable to: Wilda Christin Spalding Irrevocable Thir.
Online contributions may be made securely using the links on this site.
Please note that contributions to this pension are not considered charitable donations for US tax purposes.
For More Information
For questions regarding the trust, please reach out to the following:
Mary Howells Bruderlein
Phone: +1 (819) 452 9316
Jan Robinson
Phone: +1 (336) 287-6138