Remembering Judith Heumann, 1947-2023

When I saw a societal media station saying that Judy Heumann died, my archetypal effect was no nary no, hopefully this is misinformation. I knew she had been successful the hospital, and I hoped that this was 1 of those macabre mendacious accusation posts astir a celebrity’s death. But a fewer hours later, it was confirmed: Judith Heumann had died astatine the property of 75, connected March 4, 2023.

I archetypal learned of Judy Heumann backmost successful 2020 erstwhile I watched the documentary Crip Camp connected Netflix. All I could deliberation was how person I not heard of her before? (Spoiler alert: ableism). Heumann exuded warmth and infectious kindness successful the documentary, on with a tenacity that made her a unit to beryllium reckoned with. I instantly started pursuing her connected societal media, and saw that she inactive had the aforesaid headstrong tone she showed successful the documentary.

The girl of German Jewish immigrants, Heumann contracted polio erstwhile she was 18 months and utilized a wheelchair for mobility. When she was 5, her parents went to registry her for schoolhouse and they were told they couldn’t due to the fact that she was a “fire hazard” owed to her usage of a wheelchair. Her parents fought for her close to spell to school, and yet she was allowed to go.

When she graduated from Long Island University successful 1969 and wanted to go a teacher, the NY State Board of Education ruled successful 1970 that she wouldn’t beryllium capable to assistance children retired of the gathering successful lawsuit of an exigency and refused to assistance her a teaching license. Heumann sued, the lawsuit was settled retired of court, and Heumann taught simple schoolhouse for respective years. She besides went connected to gain a postgraduate grade successful nationalist wellness from Berkeley.

Seeing however overmuch enactment she got from disabled radical each implicit the state during that experience, she and immoderate friends founded Disabled successful Action (DIA), an enactment that wanted to marque definite that disabled radical were protected nether civilian rights laws. Later, she helped signifier the Section 504 sit-in, and played a important portion successful processing and making nationalist disablement rights authorities a reality, including IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), the Rehabilitation Act, and the UN Convention connected the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

She refused to judge the ascendant communicative that her beingness should beryllium immoderate little than anyone else’s, simply due to the fact that she was disabled. In the documentary, she explained, “I’m precise bushed of being thankful for accessible toilets. If I person to beryllium thankful for an accessible bathroom, erstwhile americium I ever gonna beryllium adjacent successful the community?”

In 1992, Heumann joined Jorge Pineda, and they made their location successful Washington, DC.

She besides helped recovered aggregate organizations for disablement rights and services, and served successful positions for 2 antithetic statesmanlike administrations. In addition, she was the archetypal advisor connected disablement and improvement for the World Bank. In 2017, she was arrested with different disablement activists, for protesting the administration’s attempts to destruct the Affordable Care Act. In her enactment with the Ford Foundation, she worked to incorporated disablement inclusion successful the enactment of the Foundation. Her podcast, The Heumann Perspective, started successful 2021, wherever she spoke with disabled changemakers and activists, arsenic good arsenic their allies.

Heumann, Disability Literature, and her Legacy

When Crip Camp archetypal came out, I felt similar it brought conversations astir disablement justness into much settings.

But she was besides a immense protagonist of different disabled artists, writers, and creators. Heumann, on with the merchandise of Crip Camp, helped to bring disablement justness to those who whitethorn not person been alert of it otherwise. It brought disablement rights into the spotlight, paving the mode for books published respective months later, similar Alice Wong’s Disability Visibility, to beryllium highlighted. Keah Brown paid tribute to Heumann connected her Instagram, arsenic did Disability Reframed and celebrities and activists similar Marlee Matlin, Haben Girma, and Maria Shriver.

It is hard to overestimate the interaction Heumann has had connected not conscionable the disablement rights movement, but the world. She was a trailblazer, fighter, and tireless advocate. If you, your child, oregon idiosyncratic you emotion has a 504 program oregon an IEP, Heumann’s advocacy and hard enactment helped marque that happen.

Heumann erstwhile said, “Some radical accidental that what I did changed the world. But really, I simply refused to judge what I was told astir who I could be. And I was consenting to marque a fuss astir it.”

May her representation beryllium for a blessing, and much importantly, for Revolution.

If you’d similar to work more, cheque retired this post connected books to work for the 30^th day of the ADA, and this post connected 10 books to present readers to disablement literature.