Anita Silvers

Anita Silvers (1 November 1940 – 14 March 2019) was an American philosopher whose work spanned medical ethics, bioethics, feminism, disability studies, philosophy of law, and social and political philosophy. She was particularly recognized as a leading interpreter of the Americans With Disabilities Act, arguing that disability rights should be considered on par with other civil rights, rather than as mere accommodations or social safety net provisions. Silvers' personal experience with polio, which she contracted in childhood and which left her with partial quadriplegia after a year in an iron lung, deeply informed her academic contributions. She earned her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in 1962 and her PhD in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University in 1967. Silvers joined the faculty of San Francisco State University in 1967, where she remained a professor and served as chair of the Philosophy Department. Her significant professional recognitions include appointments to the National Council for the Humanities, the Quinn Prize from the American Philosophical Association (APA), the Lebowitz Prize from the APA and Phi Beta Kappa, and the CSU Wang Family Excellence Award. Her 1988 book, *Disability. Difference. Discrimination: Perspectives on Justice in Bioethics and Public Policy*, co-authored with David Wasserman and Mary Mahowald, is frequently cited in legal scholarship.