Bill Altaffer is an attorney who is deeply committed to improving the quality of life in his community and on our planet. He lives in Tucson with his wife, Colette.

Altaffer, 53, graduated with honors from Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., and earned his law degree from the University of Arizona College of Law. At the firm of Strickland & Altaffer, he served as associate general counsel to three Indian nations, assisting these governments in the interpretation of their constitutions and the enactment of environmental protection legislation.

Altaffer and his wife led the precedent-setting effort to enact the Inclusive Home Design Ordinance in Pima County, Ariz.. This visitability ordinance requires that new single-family housing meet minimum accessibility requirements, thereby promoting the independence of people with disabilities. It’s currently the most progressive legislation of its type in the country.

Over the years, Altaffer has served on a variety of boards, commissions and committees whose goals are the promotion of world peace and the improvement of the quality of life for persons with disabilities.

Altaffer is a member of the national task force steering committee and is a member and past chairman of the Southern Arizona Task Force on Public Awareness. He was the recipient of MDA's 1995 National Personal Achievement Award. In 2002, Altaffer received the Tucson Human Relations Commission's Rabbi Albert T. Bilgray Make a Difference Award for his lifelong activism for human rights and social change based on the rule of law.

Altaffer has type 3 spinal muscular atrophy, also known as Kugelberg-Welander disease, which first appeared in childhood. The progressive condition involves weakness in the leg, hip, shoulder, arm and respiratory muscles.