Deborah Kaplan (disability activist)

Deborah Kaplan (born 1950) is a disability rights activist and attorney. She did her undergraduate study at UC Santa Cruz and obtained her law degree from UC Berkeley. She is a quadriplegic. In 1974 she cofounded the Disabled Women's Coalition at the University of California, Berkeley, with Susan Sygall. Also in 1974 she cofounded the Disability Rights Center with Ralph Nader. From 1980 until 1985 she was an attorney for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)).

She became the executive director of the World Institute on Disability in 1997.

She has also worked with the Center for Independent Living, the Disability Law Resource Center, and the Disabled Women's Support Group.