Rancho Los Amigos amphitheater to be renamed after disability rights advocate

Carlos Benavides is an advocate for Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. The facility’s amphitheater will be renamed in his honor. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)

DOWNEY — The amphitheater at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center will soon be renamed in honor of Carlos Benavides, in recognition of his years of service and advocacy for disability rights and the inclusion of individuals of all abilities.

The move was spearheaded by Supervisor Janice Hahn, and approved unanimously by her Board colleagues.

“Carlos has made such an impact at Rancho Los Amigos – whether it is his artwork that is featured across the hospital, the work he does there with patients nearly every day, or his ongoing advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities across the County as long-time President of the Commission on Disabilities,” said Hahn. “We thought long and hard about how we would honor all of Carlos’s contributions and renaming this amphitheater is so fitting – honoring both his work with Rancho patients, and his passion for the arts.”

Benavides said the dedication is “a big honor” and “something I never expected.”

“Having something named after you, it’s like, wow, you know,” said Benavides. “Considering this is something I do just to do, because it’s something that needed to be done. But I never expected something like that.”

Benavides began his advocacy a few years after his own accident and spinal cord injury in 2003. Familiar with the quality of care that campus provided, he struggled to get his own recovery at Rancho started.

“When I got hurt, I was trying to get into Rancho, and it was hard for me to get here, but I knew this was the best place to be,” said Benavides. “I had to come in, take a whole lot of steps to get into this place… I found out how hard it was, and challenging for me to get in here. I came in through workman’s comp; at the time they didn’t have workman’s comp, so I had to come in through polio.

“When I came in here for my physical therapy, I couldn’t see a spinal cord doctor because I had polio, and I couldn’t see the polio doctor because I didn’t have polio.”

Ultimately, Benavides says he “was one of the people who paid to come here.”

“That’s how bad I wanted to be here, because I’ve seen what they do, I’ve seen what they do for the patients,” said Benavides. “You know what, I didn’t want the patients to go through the same challenges I had to go through, so I started working with different patients and got into the patient advisory council, and that was my first step here.”

It would not be his last.

Since 2014, Benavides has served as a representative of the 4th Supervisorial District on the Los Angeles County Commission on Disabilities, including as its president for the past five.

At Rancho, Benavides is a member of the Cultural Diversity and Operations Council, LGBTQ+ Committee, Rancho Foundation’s Art of Rancho Program, and of the Patient/Family Advisory Council, where he is currently Co-Chair.

“Anything that I do out there that I try to find, this is the first place I bring it to because this is my home,” said Benavides.

With his achievements soon to be cemented into Rancho’s legacy, Benavides expressed gratitude to his family, hospital staff, administration, and to Supervisor Janice Hahn.

“I appreciate [Rancho Los Amigos CEO] Aries [Limbaga], [Rancho Los Amigos Foundation Executive Director] Deb [Arroyo], all the staff here at Rancho, Verenice [Zepeda] for always having my back and letting me get away with as much as I possibly could, the Pushrim Foundation, Supervisor Hahn for having confidence in me, and her staff for backing it. It’s a great honor for me.”